Softball: Spartans Prevail in Marquee Matchup

If you walked into the softball field at La Canada High School, you would think that you had come across a collegiate game, with both sides of fans filling their seats to capacity. Two of the top pitchers in the San Gabriel Valley faced off, with the Spartans’ Lauren O’Leary coming up triumphant, throwing a complete game two-hit shutout to lead her team to a 3-0 victory over San Marino on Friday night.

“This win is monumental, no doubt about that,” Spartans coach KC Mathews said. “Any time you go up against talent like that and come out with a victory is huge. They were very confident coming in, did their job, executed to perfection, so this was big.”

Both pitchers were nothing short of remarkable, though, it was O’Leary that earned the victory. O’Leary recorded 11 strikeouts, but most importantly maintained her emotions as the game went through.

“Beating a team like San Marino gives us a lot of confidence,” O’Leary said. “I had to come out strong knowing that they knew how to put the ball in play. Everything worked out with not only my pitches, but give a lot of credit to the girls behind me because our defense played very well.”

At times when she was rattled, O’Leary would work with her teammates to get through a jam, especially in the beginning of the game when she gave up a hit to the first batter she faced. Alexis Watanabe laced a 2-0 pitch up the middle to try and start up a Titan rally. Immediately O’Leary huddled her entire infield to talk things over.

“When I grouped them up, I told them that they could hit, especially at the beginning of the lineup,” O’Leary said. “If we got through that inning, the emotions would settle, and that’s what we did.”

Watanabe managed to advance to third, but O’Leary struck out the final two batters to end the frame. It was the only real opportunity that San Marino had against the senior.

San Marino’s Michelle Floyd also had a near flawless performance, though she allowed three runs on four hits while striking out nine. Her only struggle really came in the first, when she seemed to have a difficult time locating her pitches. The Spartans got on the board quickly, starting with a triple by Catherine Horner that scored Kayla McCue. Horner then scored on a sacrifice fly by Megan Seipler. Three more base runners were all Floyd then allowed, with one of them scoring in the fifth to add insurance for the Spartans.

“I progressively got a lot better from the beginning to the end,” Floyd said. “Next time when we face these ladies, I know now what not to do. I can’t really say what to actually do next time but to just come out ready. I really got overhyped for this game, so I just needed to calm down.”

Horner had a night to remember, going 2-for-3 with a triple, a double, an RBI and a run scored.

“Horner has been really seeing the ball very well lately,” Mathews said. “She has been a little more patient, launching those line drives into the gap. What doesn’t show in the stat, though, about her is her defense. She was phenomenal calling the pitches and keeping those hitters off balance.”

Watanabe was the only player for San Marino that could figure out O’Leary, going 2-for-2 with a walk.

La Canada now enjoys a 2 1/2 game lead in the Rio Hondo League.

San Marino, on the other hand, is in a very tight race. The Titans are in a three-way tie for second with Temple City and Monrovia.

“It’s basically just one game at a time at this point,” San Marino coach Hilda Valencia said. “I hate looking into the future. We have Monday’s practice getting ready for Temple City, but until then, we all are just going to enjoy the weekend, knowing it’ll be full force on Monday.”