Newport Harbor softball routs rival CdM in Battle of the Bay
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Newport Harbor seized control against Corona del Mar immediately and continued to add on, the Sailors coming away with a 14-0 win at home on Tuesday to emphatically snap a four-game losing streak.
Ginny Peterson was at the center of it all. The sophomore right-hander recorded eight strikeouts in a five-inning, one-hit shutout, an abbreviated outing after the mercy rule came into play.
“I think the girls had a lot of fun today,” Newport Harbor coach Patrick Murphy said. “I think it started and ended with how Ginny Peterson pitched in the circle today. She was fantastic. We’ve asked her to kind of up her strike percentage. Today, she threw 64% strikes, threw the first-pitch strike 78% of the time.”
Peterson also had two hits and drove in a team-high four runs, as she was the beneficiary of having eight runners on base during her plate appearances.
Newport Harbor (7-6, 1-1) batted around in the first and second innings. The Sailors scored five runs in the first, then had three runners cross the plate in each of the three successive innings.
“It felt pretty good,” Peterson said of her outing in the circle. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the score to be that high. I really made sure to give it my all.”
Center fielder Cora Jordan had the lone extra base hit of the contest with a run-scoring double in the third inning, but the Sailors also made their way around the base paths with six stolen bases.
“It was like pumped,” Jordan said of the atmosphere in the dugout as the Sailors turned over the lineup again and again. “It’s exciting when you’re winning and you’re doing good.”
First baseman Dominique Bettencourt had a perfect day at the plate with three hits, three runs scored, two runs batted in and a walk. Shortstop Sienna Schneider had two hits and scored twice, and second baseman Lilia Horsley had a pair of singles.
Right fielder Kate Shepherd reached base three times — on a hit by pitch, a walk and an infield single. Catcher Ally Shaw, third baseman Abby George and left fielder Alexis Vanhorn each had a single, as each starter in the Sailors’ lineup produced at least one hit.
Brooklyn Black took over in right field and made a running catch near the foul line.
“I’m really proud of the girls,” Murphy said. “I love being at practice, I love being around them, and I just think we progressively get a little bit better every time out.”
The Newport Harbor softball program has had a new playing surface for a little over a year now, and the Sailors have been dominant in home games against their crosstown rivals since the installation of the turf infield.
In the first meeting on the new field last year, Newport Harbor beat the Sea Kings 15-0, which came on the heels of a wild 20-18 win for the Sailors at CdM to kick off the Battle of the Bay series.
First baseman Makenna Smith led off with an opposite-field single to right, but CdM (4-6, 0-2) would not see another batter reach base until Peterson issued back-to-back walks — to center fielder Sierra Zuan and pinch hitter Ashley Jones — with two outs in the fifth.
Right fielder Tatum Reynolds caught a line drive and threw to first to complete a double play at first base in the second inning, the duo jumping for joy after the defensive play.
Corona del Mar coach Dennis Wilbanks called the double play “a bright spot” for his team. Reynolds was making her first career start, he said.
Smith celebrated her teammate’s play, and Wilbanks referred to her as a “vocal leader” for the Sea Kings.
“She brings that spark to the girls and [shows] what’s expected to play at another level,” Wilbanks added. “As a coaching staff, we enjoy that.”
