BELMONT, CA -- Mariko Kondo has a compact swing and a bright orange bat that looks like it was pilfered from CalTrans.
Thursday she used both to hit a three-run home run that helped Carlmont to a 9-3 softball victory against Capuchino in a PAL-Bay game.
Kondo's blast with two out in the second inning just eluded the grasp of Capuchino center fielder Karina Chavarria who caught just about everything else hit her way on the sunny afternoon.
"It was questionable; I didn't feel anything," Kondo said of the drive. "I was kind of confused because I thought she stuck her glove over the fence and caught it."
Kondo, a second baseman who has a softball scholarship to Syracuse where she'll play next year, is only hitting .241, so her 2-for-2 effort at the plate with three runs batted in and three runs scored was welcome.
"She's been struggling a little bit, but today she was swinging the bat very well," Carlmont coach Jim Liggett said. "She had some good at bats for us."
Kondo's homer gave the Scots (10-2, 4-0) a 3-1 lead and they never trailed again, though Cap did move to within 3-2 with a run in the third.
Liggett is in his fourth decade as the Carlmont coach and had led the Scots to 27 league titles and eight CCS championships, but this is a game they won't be showing at his retirement party. Both teams made three errors in a contest that was cringe-worthy at times.
"We came out kind of slow and didn't really do our job in the beginning," Kondo said. "We did come through in the end, but we can't wait until the end of games to do that. It was a mediocre game."
Said Liggett: "Tomorrow they're really going to get chewed out because we didn't play well. We didn't play intelligent softball and we made too many mental mistakes. Cap made some really bad errors too."
Cap (7-10, 1-3) gift-wrapped the game for Carlmont in the fourth inning by dropping two infield pop-ups to hand the Scots two unearned runs. By the time the bungling was finished, Carlmont led 5-2 and the Mustangs never recovered.
"We're a very young team and that's what we do," Cap coach Todd Grammatico said. "It's very frustrating. We have more freshmen and sophomores than juniors and seniors. It's really hard to watch them grow. I know we're going to be good (eventually)."
The Mustangs did have their moments. Leadoff hitter Allie Stines had two solid singles, got on base four times and scored three runs. Second baseman Adriana Micazo also had two hits, got on base all three times and drove in two runs.
For Carlmont, Jacey Phipps, Kelsey Ching, Mailey McLemore, Cameron Kondo, Kirra Loucks and Lauren Raccioppi all backed Mariko Kondo with a hit apiece.
Freshman McLemore again shined in the circle for the Scots. Mailey, the daughter of former San Francisco 49ers' defensive back Dana McLemore, gave up six hits, struck out seven and walked two.
Junior Rafaela Dade didn't do badly in the circle for Cap, allowing eight hits, striking out two and walking none, but the Mustangs' three errors hindered her.
