The Ripon Indians got an outstanding performance in the circle from junior Angelina Martinez to shut out visiting Hilmar 2-0 and move to 3-0 in Trans Valley League play Tuesday afternoon.
“Angelina was great for us today,” Ripon coach Tanner Jordan said. “I thought she really mixed her pitches well and limited hard contact and really just let her defense play a really clean game behind her.”
Martinez allowed just five hits in the game and retired 12 of the last 13 batters she faced. The Ripon (3-0 TVL, 6-5 overall) defense was perfect behind her, coming up with 17 put outs without recording an error.
“I thought our entire team handled the heat really well today,” Martinez said. “My catcher Alana Hernandez called a really good game, and I had a lot of faith in my defense. I knew in those later innings if we forced them to put the ball in play, we were going to get outs.”
Martinez got all of the support she would need in the first inning when junior third baseman Izabelle Spurzem came up with two outs and sent a ball over the left-field fence for a home run, her third on the season.
“That home run from Izzy really set the tone for us,” Jordan said. “We know these league games are never going to be easy, and to get out in front especially, on a hot day like today, gave us a huge boost.”
Hilmar pitchers Aubree McCarthy and Sophie Stivers kept the Yellowjackets (0-2, 6-6) in the game, holding the Indians to just seven hits and forcing them to strand five runners on the base paths. Ripon was able to scratch across an important second run of the game in the third inning, however.
After a leadoff double from senior center fielder Abigail Stewart, McCarthy threw a wild pitch that allowed Stewart to advance to third. With one out in the inning, Hernandez would hit a ground ball to shortstop Camryn Mattos who threw her out at first. Breaking to the plate on the throw was Stewart, who beat the relay from the first baseman to the plate to give the Indians some much needed insurance.
“The biggest thing we preach to our girls is taking advantage of at-bats like that one from Alana,” Jordan said. “It’s obviously important to get runners on, but then we need to come up with timely plays to get runs on the board, and I think that second run really helped Angelina’s confidence in the circle.”
Coach Jordan will hope for a repeat performance in the circle as well as defensively Thursday afternoon when the Indians host Hughson. They are tied atop the TVL also with 3-0 records.
“Every year, Hughson is scrappy,” Jordan said. “They always bring a lot of energy, so our counter to that will be to bring our own noise. We get to play at home first time through against them and we’ll try to set the tone defensively early, and if we do, I think we’ll have a really good shot at coming out with a win.”
