Outscoring their opponents 38-6, the Escalon varsity Lady Cougars softball team took three wins in three games this week.
The girls were 11-3 winners Monday, Feb. 27 at Gregori, hosted Linden and shut them out 13-0 on Wednesday, March 1 and closed out the week with a 14-3 victory over Bret Harte on Thursday.
Against Gregori, Chardae Hoskins got the complete game victory, allowing just two hits, striking out six and walking three.
“We were down early,” said coach Art Brooks. “We gave up a home run to their number five hitter but then we got four runs in the third.”
The varsity girls didn’t look back after that, crafting the win.
“Gregori is a really good team, we were pleased with what we saw, that was a good team win for us,” Brooks noted.
Big hitters on the day were Bella Strach, 3-for-4 and Hoskins, 2-for-5 with four runs batted in. Mackenzie Duval, Hailie Webster, Morgan Reider and Ashley Duval had two hits apiece.
A big fifth inning saw Escalon score seven runs, getting an RBI double from Lexi Underwood and a two-run homer to left field from Hoskins.
On Wednesday, the varsity squad was all over visiting Linden and Molly Brown was solid on the mound, striking out seven, walking two and allowing two hits with no runs.
“Linden allowed 13 free passes, 11 were walks and two were hit by pitches,” said Brooks. “That really set the tone for the game. We got six hits.”
It seems like there were always runners on base, Strach going 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, Hannah Boyd going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Hoskins had a triple and drove in four runs on the day, Brown had a hit and an RBI.
Strach got the start on Thursday against Bret Harte and the varsity took a run-shortened game in a 14-3 final. Strach allowed three runs on five hits, struck out 13, walked one and hit two.
“They had some runners on but 13 of the 15 outs for them were by strikeouts,” said Brooks.
Along with a strong day in the circle, Strach starred at the plate, 3-for-4 with a single, triple and a walk off grand slam, knocking in a total of five runs. Hoskins had two doubles and scored three runs, Brown was 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBI. Underwood drove in a pair of runs, Ashley Duval tripled and drove in two.
The girls will be in action at Rainbow Fields for games in the Rainbow Tournament on Thursday and Saturday, starting off the tourney with a 1:45 p.m. game Thursday against Turlock.
Brooks said he was pleased with the way the girls played this week and hopes to see more of the same as the season progresses.
“The sky’s the limit with these ladies,” he said.
JUNIOR VARSITY
A split of their games for the week saw Escalon’s JV softball girls win big over Bret Harte and take a close loss to Linden.
They were on the field against the visiting Lions for a Tuesday, Feb. 28 contest and lost by an 8-5 final. Linden took an early lead and never trailed, up 3-1 after the first inning. They scored another run in the third and four in the fifth. Escalon countered with two more runs in the third and two in the sixth, battling back but not quite able to catch the Lions.
In Thursday afternoon action, March 2, the JV girls were 21-8 winners over Bret Harte in a run-shortened four inning contest. Bret Harte scored four runs in the first but Escalon countered with three; the young Lady Cougars then put four runs on the board in the second to lead it 7-4. A four-run third for Bret Harte made it 8-7, but Escalon then took control with six runs in the third and eight more in the fourth to put the game out of reach.
