Lively bats, shutout pitching spark Lady Dragons

The Lady Dragons softball team continues to push the runs across the plate while keeping their opponents’ bats quiet, and head into a spring vacation break with a 7-0 record.

Jenna Ebert hurled a shutout Saturday during a noon game at home against American Canyon, the first such scoreless outing for the junior pitcher. She gave up five hits but they were spaced out over the five innings she pitched; she struck out three and walked just one.

“She did a great job of keeping the ball in the zone and mixing up speeds,” said Coach Keely Ray, calling Ebert’s effort “an outstanding game.”

The tone of the game was set in the first inning, when the Wolves of American Canyon went down in order but the Lady Dragons scored three times. They scored five more in the second and four in the fourth; when American Canyon failed to score in the top of the fifth the game was called with the final score standing at 12-0.

The standout player on offense was undoubtedly freshman Ally Alcayaga, who went two-for-three including a double and a home run, with four RBIs. Not to be overshadowed, her twin sister Abby Alcayaga had a single, a double, and one RBI.

Senior Isabel Hernandez finally got her first home run, going two-for-three with three RBIs; and freshman Kaliyah Hensic with a single, a double and an RBI. Junior Alissa Orr, playing outfield in this game though also an outstanding pitcher, drove in two runs, and junior Lyndsey Lee had the twelfth RBI.

“Our defense was tight and looked crisp. We had no errors and turned a beautiful double play!” said Ray of the team’s defensive play.

“Our bats were alive on Saturday,” said Ray. “Everybody did an outstanding job of having a plan in the batter’s box and making adjustments when necessary.”

The coach also gave props to the defensive play of her young team. “Our defense was tight and looked crisp. We had no errors and turned a beautiful double play!”

The Lady Dragons will try to stay sharp over the spring break. Their next game is Monday, March 27 at Drake, followed the next afternoon by their league opening at Petaluma.