The Lathrop softball team could not get in gear offensively in an 8-0 Western Athletic Conference loss to visiting Central Valley on Monday.
The Spartans (7-6 WAC, 10-10 overall) were held to just three hits, while striking out seven times. Lathrop leadoff batter Tianna Gonzalez did her job, reaching base three times on a single and a pair of walks. Although she struck out on her fourth at-bat, she picked up her second strike on a booming foul ball long enough to clear the fence, just foul by a few feet.
Gonzalez patrolled center field with a vengeance, robbing the Hawks of two runs in the third inning when with two outs and runners on second and third, she came in to make a diving catch for the third out on a fly ball. She later chased down a ball hit to the fence and nearly gunned down the batter at second.
“On that catch, I knew that with my speed I could get to the ball and save our team a little bit,” Gonzalez said. “The fence is a little low, so I was feeling for it on that deep hit. I thought I was going to get her at second. It was so close.”
Lathrop battled all the way to the end, getting two runners aboard in three of the last four innings, but the Spartans just could not find the right combination to get a run across.
“I felt like the girls made great contact,” Lathrop coach Serena Hernandez said. “It’s just a lot of our hits were right at them. We were competing, but we came up a little short.”
Coupled with throwing seven strikeouts, Central Valley issued just four walks, committed one error and hit one batter.
“We threw strikes and minimized anyone getting on for free,” Hawks coach Jimmy Bates said. That’s kind of been our bugaboo this year, but when we throw strikes and we put the ball in play, we tend to end up liking where we are at rather than when we don’t.
“When we minimize those free bases, our team competes a lot better.”
Brooklynn Steeley went 3 for 4 with two RBI and three runs for Central Valley while Abigail Krauss belted a two RBI double and she was the Hawks batter robbed of two RBI by the Gonzalez diving catch.
The Spartans close out WAC play at Beyer on Wednesday afternoon at 4.
