SOFTBALL: Hillsdale Tops Scots, Pads PAL Bay Lead

The Score: Hillsdale 3, Carlmont 1.

The Star: Who else? Hillsdale High ace Jordan Richwood dominated visiting Carlmont in the first six innings to power the Knights to a critical Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division victory on Wednesday. The Memphis-bound senior, who struck out 11 and walked one, limited the second-place Scots to three singles – two of the infield variety – and held them scoreless until a one-out RBI groundout in the seventh.

The Turning Point: The first two innings. PAL Bay-leading Hillsdale took a 1-0 lead in the first behind a pair of one-out walks and two wild pitches. The Knights pushed their lead to 2-0 an inning later after Kristin Petrini drew a leadoff walk off losing pitcher Danielle Giuliacci (6-2), advanced to second on Lindsey Nielson’s sacrifice and then scored on a two-out RBI single by Kaylin Stewart (2-for-4). That cushion proved plenty for Richwood (18-2), who only allowed two baserunners in the first six innings.

The Quote: “We always come expecting to win. I can’t say I’ve been too focused on the newspapers, but we always know we have to be on our feet when we play them because they’ve been right behind us.” – Hillsdale junior second baseman Marissa Cho, on whether her team put any extra emphasis on Wednesday’s showdown.

What’s Next? Hillsdale (19-3, 9-0 PAL Bay) completes a tough back-to-back when it hosts Capuchino (15-4, 6-2) today at 4 p.m. The Knights hammered Cap 6-0 in the teams’ first league meeting. Meanwhile, Carlmont (16-5, 7-2) wraps up its three-games-in-three-days stretch with a visit to Aragon today at the same time.

The Bottom Line: Hillsdale took a big step toward defending its PAL Bay title by downing its longtime nemesis. In the teams’ first meeting of 2011, the Knights were sharper in all facets, and they own a two-game edge in the loss column of the league standings as a result. Should Hillsdale, the No. 1 team in Patch’s weekly , defeat No. 2 Cap today, a repeat championship seems extremely likely.

Notes: Hillsdale’s streak of 10 straight shutout victories came to an end when Carlmont’s Megan Hansen led off the seventh with a walk, advanced to third on Aurora Stottler’s ensuing single and then scored on Amelia Gerolimatos’s groundout with one out. … That run also snapped Richwood’s string of 14 straight scoreless starts. The right-hander, who entered the day with a 0.34 ERA, hadn’t allowed a run since a 4-1 loss to Gilroy on March 12. Richwood has now allowed seven earned runs in 132 innings. … Hillsdale beat a top opponent despite not getting a hit from either of its big boppers, Dani Fonseca or Courtney Tyler. Tyler, a sophomore catcher who entered batting .456, was held hitless for just the fifth time in 22 games. She did however double her walk total by drawing two free passes. … Cho had another solid game against Carlmont by going 2-for-3. When the Knights clinched a share of their first league title in 20 years last May in a 3-1 home win over the Scots, Cho had two hits, including an inside-the-park home run. … Richwood notched her 16^th double-digit strikeout game. She now has 242 strikeouts and has issued 21 walks.

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Hillsdale 3, Carlmont 1

C – 000 000 1 – 1 3 4

H – 110 010 x – 3 4 0

WP: Richwood (18-2). LP: Giuliacci (6-2).

2 hits: Gerolimatos (C); Stewart, Cho (H).

Records: Carlmont 16-5, 7-2 PAL Bay. Hillsdale 19-3, 9-0.