Riley Ward carried a two-hit shutout into the seventh inning Tuesday before yielding three runs to visiting East Union, but Manteca held on for a 9-3 Valley Oak League softball victory.
Riley finished with 10 strikeouts, five hits and five walks.
“I felt pretty good today,” Ward said. “I was just trying to stay focused, because a rivalry game is always a big game.
“I was trying to focus on my pitches, and I feel like I did a pretty good job.”
Leading 4-0 after five innings, Manteca (6-2 VOL, 15-4 overall) erupted for five runs in the fifth behind a pair of big hits.
Ayva Wilkins (three RBI) knocked in Marisa San Nicolas and Lauren Moncada (2 for 3, RBI, three runs, three stolen bases) for the Buffaloes in the fifth with a triple. She also gunned down a Lancers runner at home trying to score from second on a single in the third inning.
“On the triple, all I was thinking about was to stay down on the ball and drive it and just run,” Wilkins said. “I should have caught that fly ball, but I threw out the runner instead.
“That felt great. I haven’t done that in a while.”
Sienna Owen (2-3, RBI, double, run) added an RBI double in the sixth, scoring Jayana Dias (RBI, run).
“On my at-bat before the double she had thrown me the same pitch and I hit a dribbler to short,” Owen said. “I felt on my next at-bat I needed to make an adjustment and after not getting a bunt down twice giving me two strikes I had to do something with the pitch so I just drove it.”
Jocelyn Baptist was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run for the Buffaloes and Jayana Dias added an RBI.
Fallon Norman had the big hit for the Lancers (2-5, 9-10) in the fifth, sneaking a grounder between first and second, plating Izabella Avalos and Savanna Lopez. Elli Flores added an RBI single, scoring Leah Alstadt.
“I have told the girls before that they need to keep fighting and keep competing no matter what the score is,” East Union coach Dylan DeBrouwer said. “This has kind of been the story for us – we take too long to go going offensively. We did a good job battling back and take away that one bad inning and it’s a 4-3 ball game. We opened the door for them offensively in the first inning with an error and we did the same in the last inning.
“You have to tip your hat to Manteca, they’re a good squad. Our girls are right there but we have to get going offensively earlier and we can’t give good teams free bases. For us moving forward we have to get better in those areas.”
With four league games left for Manteca, the Buffaloes are two games behind Central Catholic in second place and 2 ½ games ahead of Mountain House and Oakdale. Three VOL teams are guaranteed to advance to the playoffs.
“Playing a rival, we don’t think about league championships or playoffs,” Buffaloes coach Josh Farris said. “We just think about trying to win the city. The girls didn’t play their best game today, but hard enough to get this victory.
“As far as playoffs go, we are still chasing Central Catholic, and we look forward to playing them on Tuesday, for sure.”
On Thursday at 4 p.m. the Lancers host Central Catholic, and Manteca goes to Sierra.
