“I was a little worried in the beginning, it was too close,” said Holy Family Coach Greg Ziomek, whose team (7-8) is in third place in league at 2-4 and must hold off Sacred Heart of Jesus in two head-to-head meetings to close out the regular season in order to clinch the final playoff spot. “It was the fourth inning before we really started to open it up and that made it a little tense, but I had confidence in the team and I knew they would come through.”
Bishop Conaty-Loretto (1-8, 1-5 in league) came up with a run in the first inning on a leadoff infield single and run-scoring grounder that got through to center field with one out.
Holy Family first baseman Aurora Agure made an unassisted double play on a line drive to end the inning and the Gaels tied the game one pitch into the bottom of the first when leadoff hitter Gaby Diaz homered to deep left field.
“Our first inning is usually shaky, so it was all right,” said Turner, who struck out seven batters. “Afterward, we just united and it was all good.”
Holy Family would grab a 2-1 lead later in the bottom of the first inning on a one-out double by Agure that scored Elena Lomeli.
After going up, 3-1, in the bottom of the third on an RBI double by Becky Martinez, Holy Family broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth on three hits and four errors.
Turner worked a leadoff walk, stole second and advanced to third base on a throwing error before scoring on double to left field by Amber Camacho.
Camacho went to third on a single by Diaz and scored on an off-the-mark throw from right field that put Diaz on third and Jenny Rodriguez followed with a ground-ball single up the middle to plate Diaz for a 6-1 lead with the first out still yet to be recorded.
“We were facing a slower pitcher and in fast-pitch softball, you’re used to seeing that heat,” Ziomek said. “This girl was pitching relatively slow and the hitters’ timing was off. It took them until the third inning to get used to that, but they made the adjustment.”
The fourth inning was prolonged by two more errors allowing Holy Family to take an 8-1 lead into the fifth inning.
Turner worked around a one-out hit by pitch to keep the lead intact in the top of the fifth and the Gaels enacted the mercy rule with a two-out rally in the bottom half on an error followed by three consecutive singles from Rodriguez, Lomeli and Agure.
