Nayellys Torres had everyone fooled.
She appeared to be in peak form Thursday while stifling reigning NorCal champion Central Catholic in a 1-0 home win for Manteca.
“I know she wasn’t feeling her best today — she had a headache,” Manteca coach Josh Farris said.
“You wouldn’t be able to tell, because she’s such a competitor.”
The fourth-year varsity senior worked through early jams and left the tying run on third base in the final inning, as the Buffaloes (2-0, 9-2 overall) knocked off the MaxPreps No. 1 ranked team in the Sac-Joaquin Section.
Central Catholic (1-1, 10-3) won the previous five meetings with Manteca and had a five-game winning streak snapped. Manteca has now won seven in a row, but the latest triumph may rank as one of the best in program history.
“This is very special, especially since we haven’t (beaten Central Catholic) since my freshman year,” Torres said. “We came in ready to work. We knew we needed to make plays on defense, and my defense had my back the whole time.”
Jocelyn Baptist knocked in fellow sophomore Lauren Moncada with a double in the first inning for the
Torres finished with nine strikeouts in the two-hit shutout, walking one and hitting one. She outdueled sophomore Amaya Gustavis (three strikeouts, five hits, walk, hit batter), who was ultimately done in by an error.
Moncada reached on a misplayed grounder to start the home half of the first inning and advanced on a wild pitch. After Sienna Lowery drew a walk, clean-up batter Baptist drilled a sharp grounder down the line past CC third baseman Jazmarie Roberts to plate Moncada.
“I was looking left side the whole time because of the gaps, so I had a pretty good feeling,” Baptist said. “I had to do what I had to do to score the run.”
The Raiders from Modesto left four runners in scoring position in the first three innings. Torres got out of trouble with clutch strikeouts, then retired 10 consecutive batters until the seventh inning.
“In my eight years (as Manteca coach), all the big games that you remember, she’s been right in the middle of them competing,” Farris said. “She’s just phenomenal, and we’re so blessed to have her.”
Torres had to work her magic one last time in the seventh, as Miranda Temple led off with a two-base error. She lofted a high popup to center field that was dropped.
“I definitely didn’t try to think to much about the runners,” Torres said. “I made sure to think about just me and Lo (Moncada), the catcher, the whole time. Just do our thing, because I know our defense will have our back at all times.”
Temple was bunted to third by Madison Harrison. Torres struck out the next batter for the second out and induced a soft pop-up that was caught on the run behind the third-base bag by the rangy Lowery, Manteca’s shortstop.
The Buffaloes only had the one error all game.
“We know we have bats, and their pitcher did a real good job today of keeping us off balance,” Farris. “But we pride ourselves on defense. We know that this league is so tough, and there are so many good hitters and lineups like that. We know that if we can just play defense behind Nayellys, we can be pretty successful.
“(Central Catholic is) so talented, and their lineup puts so much pressure on you. To go up 1-0 early and keep our cool for the next six innings, I’m pretty proud of the girls.”
Manteca will take next week off from VOL play but will get enough competition to stay sharp. The Buffs will first head to Linden on Tuesday before starting the NorCal Leadoff Classic against Sierra Canyon on Thursday, April 4 at the Tracy Sports Complex.
