Lathrop was held without a hit during a pivotal Western Athletic Conference clash with visiting Ceres on Friday, but that doesn’t mean the Spartans were without opportunities.
They left the tying run stranded on third base, as pitcher Sami Alcarez and the Bulldogs held on for the 5-4 victory that keeps them one game behind first-place rival Central Valley.
Lathrop (5-3 WAC, 10-7-1 overall) is battling for the third and final automatic playoff berth, and a win Friday could have provided a boost in its MaxPreps rating.
The Spartans were able to capitalize on early walks and errors to score their runs and even take three leads. They just couldn’t get the bats going in key moments, which was also the case in their 2-0 loss at Ceres last month.
“I think we played them a lot better this time around,” Ceres coach Serena Hernandez said. “We just weren’t able to execute with runners on. It was not the outcome we wanted, but the girls competed.”
Alcarez worked through some shaky moments for Ceres (9-1, 13-6-1),which committed five errors in the first three innings. She also walked six batters and hit one but tied a season best with 13 strikeouts. The no-hitter is her third in four games, but the first that went the full seven innings.
All four runs Alcarez gave up were unearned, as they were all the result of overthrows in the infield.
“She definitely kept us off balance and we chased pitches that we shouldn’t have,” Hernandez said. “I feel like we could have been a little more selective and just looked for our own pitch.”
Ja’Leiyah Ray, Aubree Martinez, Avaihna Calderon and Tianna Gonzalez scored Lathrop’s runs. Ceres’ Gabby Ortiz and Briona Bravo each had the only RBIs of the game. Bravo’s sacrifice fly to right field plated Amaiya Prtichett for the go-ahead run in the sixth inning.
Lathrop pitcher Maci De Costa did well to keep her team in the game throughout. In the seventh, Ceres had runners on the corners, but the Spartans’ senior ace struck out two to get out of it unscathed.
De Costa toughed it out after getting hit by a comebacker in the first inning and fouling a ball off her own leg in the second.
“It’s about how she responded,” Hernandez said of De Costa. “This is a game of failure, but how do you respond to those things? I thought she battled until the end; we just came up short.”
The Spartans started their final turn at the plate at the top of the lineup.
Ray drew a full-pitch walk, was bunted to second by Martinez and stole third.
Alcarez escaped with a strikeout and induced a soft grounder to herself for the final out.
Lathrop has a busy final two weeks of the regular season ahead with six games still left to play. Up first is a trip to Johansen next Monday.
