Prep softball: Fourth-ranked Elk Grove survives a scare from Roseville
Elk Grove improved to 13 wins this season in nail-biting fashion, eking out a 3-2 victory against Roseville High School on Monday.
The fourth-ranked Thundering Herd struck first in the second inning with pitcher Aissa Silva hitting a sacrifice fly deep into center field, bringing in Kate Wolf.
Silva threw the first four innings, only allowing four hits and a hit batter before being relieved by Marissa Marshall, a move coach Amanda Buck said was premeditated.
“I didn’t want to pitch Aissa the whole game because we have league (play) still,” Buck said. “I knew I only wanted her to go four innings, maybe five. So I brought him Marissa and (she) did a good job throwing strikes, the defense did a good job backing her up, we had some timely hits and it worked out in our favor. I credit the defense a lot for getting outs when we needed to get outs.”
A string of three straight hits in the top of the fifth inning, culminating in freshman Taylor Fitzgerald’s two-run double, made it a three-run lead for the visiting team.
But Roseville came back in the bottom of the inning after Shaylen McDowell’s double brought in Madalyn Anderson and Jennavieve Goldsworth to make it a one-run game with two innings to play.
The most controversial moment of the game came in the top of the seventh inning when Silva, a baserunner, was called for interference after colliding with the Roseville first baseman fielding a popout. The umpire ruled that both Berner, the batter, and Silva were out, ending the inning. It was the kind of play that could unravel a team.
“I thought if there’s an interference call, it’s a dead ball and things go back to where it started,” Buck said. “I get the interference call, but I don’t get how it turns into a double play. I’ve never seen that happen.
“Our girls held their composure. I think for the most part, I held my composure and I knew we could just go out there and just finish the game. And I was proud of them for going out there and finishing.”
A minor scare came in the bottom of the seventh with two outs when McDowell got on base after Marshall mishandled the throw to first base, but the next batter was thrown out with no fuss, allowing Elk Grove to escape.
The Thundering Herd softball team has been a staple of success in the Sacramento region, amassing at least 15 wins in every season since 2004 (excluding the abridged 2020 season) and suffering no more than 12 losses in a year. And part of the reason for that success Buck believes, is their ability to consistently find great pitchers and hitters.
“We’ve been very blessed with great pitching at Elk Grove,” she said. “I think year in and year out, we’ve had an ace in the circle with Ava (Hand) the last four years and now Aissa. And we have hitters here, we have a lot of girls who play softball year in and year out and they come into Elk Grove. We work hard every practice and they’re very, very talented. We’ve just been very, very blessed with talent to come in here.”
And despite the Herd’s good record, there is always something to improve on.
“We got to hit a little better. I think defensively we’re fine,” she said. “I don’t think teams are going to score a lot of runs on us with Aissa on the mound, but we got to back her up a little better with getting a little bit more runs up on the board. We figure out a way to score consistently we’re going to be hard to beat.”