The Valley Christian Warriors and the Leigh Longhorns softball teams met at Valley Christian in a non-league game with Leigh winning 14-1.
Left without a pitcher after sophomore Brynne Fitzpatrick was injured earlier this season, the Warriors left their pitching up to sophomore Jackie Brown who usually plays second base. Obviously, this has put a crimp in the Warrior effort, though Brown has performed courageously in an attempt to fill the void.
"She's on a week-to-week basis, so hopefully we'll get her back in the next two to three weeks," said Warriors coach Rigo Gutierrez of Fitzpatrick. "That'll be best-case scenario. If we get her back, we feel really good about the rest of the season. Without her, we're trying to do the best with what we can and that's having people pitch that aren't necessarily our pitchers."
With Valley Christian not at full strength, the Longhorns (5-2) were able to score big.
In the first two innings alone, the Longhorns were able to pick up five runs with clutch hitting by seniors Lyndsi Garcia and Lauryn Saunders.
However, with strong defensive plays by the Warriors in the third and fourth innings including a diving catch by Warriors sophomore Jordan Dawkins, the Longhorns were unable to pick up another run until the fifth inning when freshman Alexis Lindsey was driven in by Garcia. The Longhorns then proceeded to score eight more runs in the last two innings of the game.
The Warriors (3-6) were able to get on the board during the fourth inning when sophomore Lauren Baca-Cymrot hit a home run over the fence in right field. However, Valley Christian was unable to summon enough offense to score the rest of the game against Leigh sophomore pitcher Katie Stamps.
Despite the victory, Longhorn coach Clovis Mirassou doesn’t believe this was an accurate reflection of Valley Christian’s potential.
"You can't count this game because they don't have a pitcher. If they had a pitcher this would have been a lot closer game and it could have gone either way,” Mirassou said. “They are a really good squad and 14-1 doesn't reflect on their ability. We were in the same position last year -- started out 1-8 because our pitcher was hurt and then turned it around and went 18-1 after that, so they can do the same thing. They're a strong ball club."
With Stamps' strong outing, Mirassou envisions a bright future for the young pitcher.
"I expect her to get stronger. She's never been able to go seven innings before this season and we've almost forced her to go seven innings. She's getting stronger and stronger and she's throwing less and less walks which is really helping."
Regarding the future of the Longhorns' season, Mirassou expects the team to go “a little bit over .500” given the competitiveness of the league they are in.
“We start league play next week and we have a really strong league," Mirassou said. "The Blossom Valley Athletic League and the Mount Hamilton side is really tough. Every game is a tough game so I hope to make it to CCS."
Given the lack of an experienced starting pitcher, the Warriors still remain optimistic about their season.
“Hopefully this last couple weeks makes us a stronger team when our pitcher comes back,” Gutierrez said. “Our record wouldn't necessarily indicate that, but as a team, we'd be in a lot better position to make a run for the finals.”
