Softball: Vincent homers twice in Foothill win against Granada

Since its forgettable performance at the Livermore Stampede, the Foothill High girls softball team has been on a roll.

In one of the few games that didn't get postponed due to rain on April 21, the Falcons showed no signs of slowing down at home against Granada.

Leadoff hitter Taylor Vincent homered in the first inning and added a two-run shot in the third to give Foothill an early cushion as it went on to win 5-1.

"That was a good way to get us jump-started," Foothill coach Matt Sweeney said.

It was quite the contrast from when the two teams met in the Stampede when Granada pitcher Stefani Miller tossed a complete-game shutout in a 2-0 Matadors win.

This time around, the Falcons (7-7, 3-1) adjusted their approach to the plate.

"I just told them to let the pitch travel and try to drive it back up the box," Sweeney said. "We want to win all our games, but we'd rather win this (league game) instead of the game in the Stampede."

Megan Tabler drew a leadoff walk, but was forced out on a grounder by Jenica Holt to set up Vincent's third inning blast to left center — her fifth of the year.

"It was nice to come back after we lost to them 2-0," Vincent said. "We didn't hit very well in that game and this game we came out a did pretty well." 

An error allowed Vincent to reach base in the fifth and Natalie Tiongco followed with a single to move Vincent to third. Tiongco stole second before Keri Ball's third hit of the day brought them both in with a double to right center.

Ball had just moved her scoreless innings streak to 19 in the top half of the inning — which included shutout wins against California and Carondelet — but the Matadors finally got something going off the Cal State Stanislaus-bound pitcher in the sixth.

Ball hit Lexii Siegle, walked Alanna Leasau and Caitlin Neal to load the bases before striking out Kaylene De Bord for the first out of the inning. Biana Devoto delivered an RBI single to make the score 5-1 and put a hault to Ball's scoreless streak.

The next hitter, Dominique Carey, represented the tying run for Granada, but she grounded to Ball who started a one-two-three double-play to end the inning.

"They were a hit away from making this a game," Sweeney said.

Granada (5-8, 0-5) loaded the bases again in the seventh, but came away with nothing.

Ball finished the game 3 for 3 with two RBI's and struck out six in the complete-game five-hitter.

Foothill will travel to San Ramon Valley on Thursday for a 4 p.m. game.

box score

Granada (5-8, 0-5 EBAL) 000 001 0— 1 5 2

Foothill (7-7, 3-1) 102 020 x— 5 8 0

Granada (ab-r-h)— Ragussa 3-0-0, Siegle 3-1-0, Leasau 2-0-1, Neal 3-0-0, Winsor 2-0-0, De Bord 1-0-0, Devoto 3-0-2, Carey 3-0-0, Murtagh 3-0-1, Keller 3-0-1. 

Foothill (ab-r-h)— Vincent 3-3-2, Tiongco 4-1-1, Ball 3-0-3, K.Beaudin 3-0-0, Mannion 2-0-0, Louie 3-0-1, Ismail 3-0-0, M.Tabler 2-0-1, Holt 3-1-0.

Pitching

Granada — Miller 6 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 8 H, 2 K, 3 BB.

Foothill — Ball (W) 7 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 7 H, 6 K, 2 BB.

Batting

2B— Ball (F); HR— Vincent (F) 2. RBI— Vincent 3, Ball 2, Devoto (G). 

Next game: Foothill plays at San Ramon Valley, Thursday April 22 at 4 p.m.