LA HABRA—In their first two Freeway League games the Sunny Hills Lady Lancers outscored their opponents 17-2, on Tuesday they showed no signs of slowing down and routed the Sonora Lady Raiders 16-0.
From the first moments of the league matchup Sunny Hills (12-6, 3-0) took the lead.
Junior Mariah Ramirez drove in the first run of many for the Lady Lancers with an RBI single.
After a Paula Solorio hit loaded the bases, Isabel Pena stepped up to the plate for Sunny Hills and made her mark on the game.
In her first visit to the plate Pena hit a deep double to make it 3-0.
A Gisele Acuna base hit RBI right after Pena’s double made it 4-0, and soon after a walk of Isabelle Gonzalez to load the bases ended Lady Raiders pitcher Ari Ramierez’s day in the circle very early.
The pitching switch for Sonora (8-12, 1-2), stopped the Lancers offensive production, momentarily at least.
The Lady Raiders relief pitcher was able to end the top of the inning without giving up a run.
Down early, the Lady Raiders were seeking to respond offensively but Ramirez, who got the start in the circle for Sunny Hills, was unhittable early on.
The junior began her day in the circle with three straight strikeouts to prevent any quick response by Sonora.
Although Sunny Hills had a big offensive start the game, they had an even bigger offensive performance in the second inning.
Through an RBI sacrifice fly by Ramirez and single by Solorio the Lady Lancers added two to their tally to go up 6-0, but soon after had two outs in the inning.
With only one out left to end the top of the second inning, the Lady Raiders just couldn’t find a way to go into the bottom of the second with minimal damage. Instead the Lady Lancers loaded the bases with two outs left and through three straight base hits kept the bases full while extending their lead to 9-0.
Midway through the Lancers run filled inning Sonora made a pitching change and brought freshman Alissa Alvarado, who went in with it 7-0, in for relief.
The pitching change did not slow down Sunny Hills.
Senior catcher Molly Grumbo, a constant source of power hitting for Sunny Hills, continued her effective Freeway League season at the plate. In addition to a double earlier in the inning, the senior extended Lady Lancers lead into double digits with a grand slam to make it 13-0 in the top of the second inning.
“They’re hitting on all cylinders, great defense out there too,we got some great plays” Sunny Hills manager Arthur Jarman said about the team’s offensive and defensive play on the day.
After Grumbo’s grand slam the Lady Raiders were able to get the third out which had eluded them for a large portion of the inning.
Ramirez picked up right where she left off in the circle in the bottom of the inning and recorded her fourth and fifth strikeouts while giving up no hits.
In a contrast to the first two innings, Sonora pitching, through Alvarado, was able to keep Sunny Hills hitless in the top of the third inning.
In the bottom of the inning the Lady Raiders were able to get some hits off Ramirez and even load the bases.
The junior pitcher did not succumb to the pressure of having the bases loaded, and made back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning and keep the shutout intact.
As the game neared an early ending the Lady Lancers added three more to their already large lead, including an RBI double by Grumbo and another sacrifice fly by Ramirez.
The fifth and final inning, due to the mercy rule, went by without either team getting a hit and with Ramirez in the circle completing a shutout performance by forcing a flyout.
Sunny Hills will seek to continue their winning form when they host Buena Park on Thursday. Sonora will look to get back to even in league play when they visit Troy on Thursday.