Manteca High put together a strong bounce-back effort Wednesday, beating one of the county’s best teams in Linden, 5-1.
"This was after a tough 10-10 tie (against West)," said Buffaloes assistant coach Stephanie Pease of the game in which her team relinquished a big lead. She was filling in at the helm from an absent Josh Ferris.
The non-league game against the Lions was a scoreless pitching duel between the Linden's Hannah Ortega and Manteca sophomore Mohrgen Kissee.
The Buffaloes (4-0-1) finally broke through in the fifth inning on Jessica Almeida's two-out double to center, delivering home Bella Gonzales, who kept the inning alive with a single.
Prior to that, Linden helped its cause with a double play.
Almeida's double easily scored Gonzales, who was off and running with two outs.
The Lions (2-1) threatened earlier in the frame, getting a lead-off double from Katie Frink, who was stranded at second following a failed bunt attempt. Kissee, who walked a batter, retired the following two on a grounder to short and a fly ball to Ariana Lowery in left.
Kissee, meanwhile, scattered four hits and issued three walks while backed by a solid defense.
"We didn't make a single error today," Pease said.
Freshman catcher Almeida erased a runner at second in the first inning and senior shortstop Kaylee MacDannald, with a pair of runners on base with two outs in the fourth, ranged far to her right to get the putout at first.
Manteca, ahead 1-0, added some insurance in the sixth, getting a lead-off double from Alyssah Harnden coupled with a pair of two-run doubles by MacDannald and Gonzales during four-run rally.
Gonzales was 2 for 3 at the plate.
Linden opened the seventh and final inning with consecutive hits by Emily Dondero and Frink. Gonzales then registered the unassisted double play at second, and MacDannald closed out with yet another putout at short.