Del Oro softball’s microwave offense heats up to hold off a fight from Folsom

With his team holding a one-run lead over Folsom on Friday, Del Oro coach Sean Erickson walked toward his third-base coaching spot before the top of the seventh inning. Erickson stopped briefly to talk to Jenna Birch in the on deck circle. He told her the Golden Eagles needed another run or two, a little cushion against the Bulldogs.

Aye, skip.

Birch hammered out the only home run of the game to lead a two-run outbreak in the top of the seventh. It was just enough of a cushion as 11th-ranked Folsom scored a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning but fifth-ranked Del Oro held on for a nail-biting 5-4 win on the Bulldogs’ home turf.

Erickson laughed at the suggestion it was great coaching that led to the homer.

“Great playing,” he said. “You can be a good coach, but you’ve gotta have a great player. She’s an adjuster. Fourth at-bat of the game and she always seems to make better contact. Not that she only hits home runs late in the game, she hits them early too, she’s the most diminutive-sized player on the team but she leads the team in home runs (four this season). She is the inspiration. She is the voice of the team.”

Birch twice inspired rallies. It was her walk that started a three-run third inning. Caroline Grimes singled, Maddie Moore hit an RBI double and Kendra Cannon had a two-RBI single in succession with two outs in the top of the third as Del Oro took a 3-1 lead.

“It’s really about passing the bat,” Grimes said. “When one person gets on, the rest gotta get going. Even with just the walk, everyone got fired up because we got a runner on.”

The home run did plenty to get the 8-1 Eagles fired up. Moore again followed with a double and Cannon again followed with a single for an RBI and a 5-2 lead.

But Folsom wasn’t done. The Bulldogs’ Gracie Carpenter and Hailey Scott led off the seventh with a pair of singles. A Marina Medina single loaded the bases with one out for Shelby Pfeiler, who doubled off the outfield fence and smashed a single in earlier at-bats. This time, Pfeiler ripped a triple. Two runs scored and Medina was called out at the plate for the second out. With Folsom down a run, Isra Rauf scorched a liner straight into the glove of Moore, the Del Oro third baseman.

Bulldogs co-head coach Paige Beeskau wasn’t happy with the loss but liked what she saw from Pfeiler, her catcher.

“This is a step forward, definitely,” Beeskau said. “We’ve been waiting for that to come, we know it’s there. It’s just been a slow start and we’re excited to see it come alive. It was definitely a clutch moment today that it came alive, so it was awesome to see.”

Scott and Carpenter each had a pair of hits to aid the Folsom offense.

The Del Oro offense was mostly quiet Friday. They were set down in order in three innings and had just one base runner in two innings. When the Eagles got hot, they were scorching, with six straight baserunners in the third inning and four out of five batters reaching base in the seventh. Erickson just shook his head after the game. Del Oro knocked off top-ranked Rocklin, 4-2, Wednesday. The Eagles struggled against Folsom, but every coach loves a one-run win.

“That team, every time we wanted a shutdown inning, they’d get the leadoff batter on. So it became the tenuous part of the game,” he said.

That’s not a problem when you’ve got a junior second baseman who can hit home runs on command.

“I was thinking the last time I was up, the first pitch was inside. So I’m just going to hit this first pitch, give us a base runner and get us some runs,” Birch said.

The Golden Eagles could use that trick next week against No. 15 Center and No. 20 Granite Bay.