Tracy came up with an errant run in the first inning Tuesday, and that held up for the duration as the visiting Bulldogs eked out a 1-0 win over Manteca in a non-league softball contest.
Emalee Cargill bunted her way on to start the game, and Leilani Benson tried to advance her with a bunt but popped out to Buffaloes catcher Lauren Moncada at the backstop. Cargill thought she could still tag up and make it to second, but Moncada cut her down.
Hayden Fell was up next and hit a routine single to the outfield that was misplayed, allowing Fell to advance to third. Emma Golden then hit a foul tip to the backstop, but it was ruled a wild pitch, allowing Golden to score.
“I’m fairly confident it was a foul tip,”but I gave up yelling at umpires for Lent,” Manteca coach Josh Farris said. “I have a bunch of freshmen, and I am not the Coach Farris they expected when they got to Manteca, but we are going to try this for at least 40 days.
“I said after that first inning that we had better not lose this game 1-0, so I jinxed it. There were opportunities; you can’t say that one play was the whole thing. We had runners in scoring position a few times, and even in the seventh we had a chance to get it done. We just couldn’t come up with that big clutch two-out hit.
“We ran into some outs on the bases, but for the most part, I thought we got much better playing a team like Tracy. They have no holes in their lineup, and they force you to make plays.”
Buffaloes pitcher Nayellys Torres sprinkled seven hits over the seven innings, striking out six. She pitched her way out of two second-third base jams, and twice forced the Bulldogs to strand runners at first and second.
The Buffaloes (2-2) got hits in all but two innings with seven hits, but Moncada was the lone Manteca batter with two hits. Maleiah Garza and Ayna Wilkins both reached base twice with each one getting a hit and a walk.
Bulldogs coach Paulette Keeney credits her defense with the win.
“It was a really close game,” Keeney said. “As I was telling my girls, defense won that game. Both teams had great pitching, Manteca turned a couple of double plays, we turned a couple of double plays to end the inning.
“The bottom line is defense won that game.”
Manteca travels to Patterson this afternoon at 3:30.
