Benicia weekend wrap up

A fun weekend in Benicia wrapped up Sunday afternoon with the Wildcats fighting hard until the time limit closed it out. Another tournament with a Saturday win and more importantly a Sunday morning win against Vallejo who had beaten us the day before. The Wildcat heart in unquestioned as each and every game we find ourselves down on the scoreboard. The girls will battle back and continue to work hard regardless of the score. With every game the Wildcats learn a little more about themselves, who they are as a team, and where they need to work to get to the next level. A tale of 2 teams told the story of Sunday as Saturday's non swinging bats stayed home and allowed the Wildcats bats to stride confidently to the plate. Pitching on both days by both Wildcat pitchers was crisp and accurate. Defense however as a TEAM was not good. Routine plays are just not getting made with any level of consistency. We need to tighten up the infield and outfield if we expect to go deeper on Sunday's. So far this tournament season the toughest opponent that the Wildcats have faced is themselves. The weekend was a successful one and was not without many highlights. A leadoff experiment with Mackenzie would be big as she would reach base safely in every game going 7-11 on the weekend at the plate. Taylor moving to the 2 spot would swing a hot bat netting 6 hits over the 2 days. Saja would continue to swing a solid bat, shaking off a slow start on Saturday to net 5 hits in the final 3 games. Hillary started to see pitches to hit on Sunday gaining some confidence at the plate with 4 Sunday singles. Gillian once again hustles each time she puts the bat on the ball 5 hits on the weekend. The right side of the defense was solid, Saja continues to excel at 1st base and Maddi (in her first tournament) jumped in with both feet and made some plays at 2nd. Pitching by Taylor and Saja was great. Both of them did their job, throwing strikes, not walking batters, getting ground balls in the infield and lazy pop ups to the outfield. The weekends highlight was undoubtedly the second game of Saturday. The Wildcats would take on a talented San Mateo team. Once again saturday quiet bats and bad defense put the girls behind the eight ball. Never seeming to put a rally together or string a couple of good plays in a row brought the girls up to bat in the bottom of the last inning down 3-1. Bottom of the order up, 2 quick outs, but proving that you cannot teach heart they didn't quit. First time travel catcher Kaiya would single, Mackenzie would beat out an infield hit and Taylor would work a walk to load the bases with 2 outs bringing Haley up to the plate. With the fastest players on the team on second and first the stage was set and Haley didn't disappoint, a first pitch fastball was sent deep to left field well over the left fielders head. Kaiya scores, Mackenzie scores from second and Taylor comes all the way around from first for the winning run. A 2 out 3 run walk off double for Haley with her dad in the scorekeepers booth. A close second to that highlight was Sunday morning against Vallejo, again defense put the Wildcats down 3-0 in the first inning. Then 5-2 in the third. Chipping away at the lead with base hits and great baserunning evened the score as the later inning approached. With the score tied at 5-5 Lacy would notch a single and advance to second on a throw just by firstbase. Maddi would knock her over with a single. Taylor would single in the lead run up the middle, and Maddi would steal home for a 2 run lead. On defense for the last inning against the 2-3-4-5 hitters a Vallejo team that had just beaten us the day before. A sharp hit ball to Hillary at third was fielded cleanly for a quick out. A liner up the middle snatched up by Taylor for the second out. The 4 hitter sent a ball deep to center that Shale ran 30 yards for and just missed a spectacular stretching catch. With a runner on second and 2 outs Taylor would close it out at the plate striking out the games final hitter looking with a nasty curveball allowing the Wildcats some retribution for a tough Saturday loss to the Hurricanes. With thoughts of what might have been in their minds the girls would head home after a hard fought game sunday afternoon. Enjoy the wins, remember the losses, and never be satisfied.
Another learning experience, with a quick turn around this time. The girls will be right back at it this weekend in Rohnert Park. Details and schedule coming soon.