SARATOGA -- No. 3 West Valley softball completed a difficult stretch, taking three games in three days. The Vikings (33-3, 9-2 Coast) opened the week with a run-rule takedown of conference foe Chabot, followed with a thrilling victory over No. 9 San Joaquin Delta and completed the week with a shutout victory over Ohlone.
The Vikings played one of their fastest games of the season in the opener against the Gladiators (2-27, 0-11 Coast), completing five innings in under two hours in a 15-2 rout. Sophomore Amelia Sizemore got the start and had one of her strongest outings of the season, completing four innings while allowing just two earned runs. After the Gladiators struck first in the top half of the first, the Vikings scored three in the bottom half, with the biggest blow being an RBI triple from Destiny Solis, to give the Vikings a lead they would not relinquish.
Offense led the charge the rest of the way. Freshman Angie Fulkerson hit a mammoth three-run home run in the bottom of the second, and sophomore Mo Temple hit a two-run single in the third. The Vikings' biggest inning of the game was a five-spot in the bottom of the fourth, as Temple's double scored two more. West Valley put up a crooked number in every inning, and Ana Marquez closed the door in the top of the fifth.
Wednesday's victory was one of the best of the season for the Vikings. The ninth-ranked Mustangs (25-9, 16-4 Big 8) led by five runs in the top of the fourth inning before the Vikings could even muster a baserunner. But as they've done all season, the Vikings rallied and used a three-run sixth inning to come out on top, 6-5.
"Right when we went down," said Solis, whose two-hit day helped spark the victory, "I already knew, we have it in the bag. This is our team. We like to go down a lot, and then fight. Our team has a lot of fight."
That fight started to show in the bottom of the fourth. The Vikings trailed by five, with Delta's Kiki Mazza hitting a solo home run and a couple separate RBI knocks creating the separation. Temple led off the frame with the Vikings' first baserunner of the day, singling through the infield. Freshman Aneesa Aguon's dribbler out in front of the circle had the perfect amount of spin on it as she reached base as well, with Temple moving to third on the throw. After a popup and an Aguon steal of second, Fulkerson grounded out to bring home a run. Katy Lambert followed with a long at-bat resulting in a walk and Solis doubled off the wall in right to bring home one more. Zoe Griffin attacked the first pitch she saw, singling to bring home the Vikings' third run of the inning.
One of the question marks coming into the season for the Vikings was the defense, especially considering the large sophomore class that left following last season. But it's been a strength for the Vikings so far this year, and it was spectacular in the Delta victory. West Valley turned four double plays, all of a different variety, the most it has had in a game since February 10, 2018.
"Defense kept us in that game," said head coach Vicky Piatt. "Our pitching has been lights out all year. And one thing that I have said to our pitchers is, when you get to the end of the season, hitters have, 60, 70, 80 at-bats under their belts, right? They have a lot of at-bats under their belts, and the hitters are evolving and so our pitchers need to evolve. And I think my pitchers right now are hitting that kind of space where they need to be sharper hitting spots. So it's just great to have our defense working so hard to have their backs."
After Lambert, who had moved from the DP spot to play as a two-way in the circle in the top of the third inning, worked a shutdown top of the sixth, the Vikings still trailed by two with just six outs to play with. Sophomore Raylene Cruz led off the inning with a hard-hit single, and after being pinch-ran for with Taylor Hanshaw, Fulkerson bunted her over to second. Lambert then scorched a ball into left-center, scoring Hanshaw, and moved to second when the ball evaded the grasp of the Delta left fielder.
Solis followed with arguably the best at-bat of the season. The freshman jumped ahead in the count, 3-1, but seemed to be taking all the way until she got two strikes before fouling off three difficult pitches to handle. On the ninth pitch of the tilt, Solis ripped a base hit to score Lambert and tie the game for the Vikings.
"My mindset, I already know I'm an 0-2 hitter," said Solis. "So, no matter what, I know my bat does all the talk, and I was just very confident in myself overall. I knew my team had my back. So if I were to hit, they would help me get around."
Now in a tie game, Griffin fell behind in the count but laced a single of her own. Again facing an early deficit that turned into a five-run deficit with just four innings to go, the Vikings came through in the clutch and had taken the lead.
"Felt good," said Griffin. "The late rallies for the team are continuing. Every time we play, if we get behind in a game, I always have faith in my team. Every game, we come out here and fight. It's faith."
The game ended the only way it possibly could have - with a double play. The Mustangs got two on with just one out, but Lambert got Brooklyn Galloway to ground into a 4-6-3 twin killing to put out the fire and give the Vikings a quality non-conference victory.
West Valley took care of business in another conference game on Thursday. The Renegades (4-32, 1-10 Coast) put up a fight through the first couple of innings, keeping the Vikings off the scoreboard, but for the first time all week, the Vikings took the games' first lead. It came in the bottom of the third inning, as Temple reached on an error, Hanshaw walked and Sadie Heming scored Temple on a base hit. Lambert then singled home one more, with another coming home on a throwing error. April Price scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the fourth, and Heming hit a three-run moonshot just a couple batters later to push the Vikings up 7-0, which was the games' final score.
While Thursday's victory was the simplest of the bunch, Piatt finds a lot of comfort in watching the way her team has grown to be able to bounce back from an early deficit, as it did in both Tuesday and Wednesday's games.
"With the type of season that we've had and we've had a lot of these close games with these comeback games," said Piatt, "I think it has really shaped the type of team we have to like right now, where I was saying like they keep their composure, they don't feel like the highs and lows as much or like that. They're not scared or worried. They don't play that way, it's a hard thing to teach. So if you can have games like that and learn from it, I guess we're lucky in that sense."
The Vikings have another difficult test ahead, continuing conference play on the road against No. 15 Cabrillo on Tuesday.