‘Rein Dog’ and Hammerin’ Huskies softball shows why it’s The Bee’s second-ranked team
She goes by “Rein Dog” for her hustle and tenacity. If she and her Sheldon High School softball team went on tour, they might go by the “Hammerin’ Huskies.”
Reina Zermeno wields a heavy bat as a leadoff hitter for the No. 2 Huskies, and on Thursday in Delta League action, she ended matters with a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, punctuating a 14-4 victory over No. 10 Pleasant Grove.
That’s the fifth homer this season for the San Jose State-bound junior and the 20th for the Huskies during an 8-2 start to the season. One thing about blasts that land over fences: they never get old, do they?
“Never!” Zermeno said excitedly, a moment after raking the infield per routine postgame duties. “Hitting home runs, for any of us, is super exciting. We build off that energy.”
In her 27 seasons coaching championship ball at Sheldon, since the school opened in the Elk Grove Unified School District, coach Mary Jo Truesdale admits game-ending home runs still lead her to jump for joy as she waves runners home.
“It’s still nice,” she said with a laugh.
Hitting .559 coming in, Zermeno had three hits and scored four runs with a lot of support against Sheldon’s chief rival over the years, a meeting of programs that have in the last 10 years each been ranked No. 1 nationally. Jazzy Fines had two hits, two runs and an RBI, D’auna Johnson drove in two, and Jaylee Ojo had four RBIs and scored twice while also earning the victory with a seven-strikeout effort. Dakota Kennedy had four hits, two RBIs and scored three times, and Kennedy Upshire A.J. Vasquez, Jaylee Marshall and Beija Allen each had a hit or scored a run as Sheldon pounded out 13 hits for 13 RBIs, including four doubles.
Zermeno’s blast came off a soon-to-be teammate in Ashley Goard, also headed to San Jose State. Goard struck out five and showed flashes of her scholarship talent, and she is hardly the first pitcher to get roughed up by the Huskies. Sheldon has scored 117 runs with 54 extra-base hits and is batting .438 as a team while allowing 33 runs to go with five shutouts.
But the Sheldon losses were sobering, to The Bee’s top-ranked Rocklin 8-1 and to powerhouse and unbeaten Vanden, 11-8. Even without a Sac-Joaquin Section postseason this spring, Truesdale was sure to schedule tough again to test her troops.
“In the losses, we learned that we have to play with more energy,” Truesdale said. “Those were wake-up calls against very, very good teams. The good teams expose your weaknesses, and those teams hit the ball so hard.”
So does Sheldon. The Huskies scored four in the first with Kennedy and Ojo driving in a combined three runs, and the team blew it open with an eight-run sixth to move to 6-1 at home.
Fines, from a family of exceptional softball and baseball players, had a two-run double in the inning to make it 7-4. Ojo doubled in two for a 9-4 lead, Upshire and Allen drove in runs to make it 11-4, and then Zermeno capped it with her shot over the left-field fence, leading to a festive scene after everyone crossed the plate.
“These girls are such good hitters,” Truesdale said. “I’m proud of them. They work so hard on their game, and every day out here, we are blessed to play after just a few games last season (due to the pandemic).”
The coach said of her “Rein Dog” leader, “She has so much energy, a really nice kid, a great student-athlete.”
Ojo, a strong sophomore, was gritty in her pitching effort, dealing with a sore calf. She allowed five hits and two earned runs. She surrendered a solo home run to senior outfielder Kaylin Brozaitis in the fourth that pulled the Eagles to within 5-3. It was the first homer of the season for Brozaitis.
Pleasant Grove is 4-3 with setbacks of 7-3 to Rocklin and 1-0 to McClatchy