Ramona High softball coach praises seniors as team ends season
By Bill Tamburrino
The Ramona High School girls softball team lost in the play-in round of the CIF playoffs to Westview High School 4-3 in eight innings.
It was the 10th time that the Bulldog girls lost a one run game this season.
“We are a young team and we will work on not giving up so many unearned runs next season,” said coach Cori McDonald.
“We decided to go all out from the get-go,” said McDonald when explaining why she ordered a suicide squeeze bunt in the top of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead.
Jazmin Simone led off the frame with a single. With one out, Amber Davis singled. Julie Ward then beat out a bunt single. With the bases loaded, Kenzie Wright put down a bunt on the squeeze, caught Westview off guard, and ended up beating the bunt out for a single.
Westview answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, two of which were earned.
In the top of the sixth, starting pitcher Kailey Hill led off the frame with a triple. Davis traded places with Hill with a three bagger of her own. Ward then drove in Davis with a single up the middle to tie the game.
Westview tried to win the game with a squeeze bunt in the seventh but there is a reason it is called a suicide squeeze. Hill fielded the bunt and flipped a perfect throw to catcher Ashley Pittman to get the out at the plate.
The Dawgs surrendered an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth inning to end their season with a 16-15 record.
Adrianna Johnson continued to swing a hot bat as she went 1-for 3. Christina Barrameda also had a 1-for-3 outing with a stolen base.
Hill went the distance in the circle and the hard luck right-hander took the loss. She fanned eight and only gave up three hits. Ramona committed four errors in the game.
McDonald had praise for the four seniors on the team: “I started coaching at RHS when they were freshmen. Julie was on the varsity and I got to coach Adrianna (Johnson), Sara (Rodriguez), and Kenzie (Wright). It was great to see them improve and grow as athletes and individuals over the four years. Kenzie has the best glove of any first baseman that we have had. She led the team in putouts and had a fielding average of over .980. Adrianna is one of the best base runners we have ever had. She has the speed and the know-how and never makes a mistake on the bases. She led our team in hitting in league play. Sara is a born leader and a great teammate. She is unselfish and would do anything to help the team or a teammate. Julie is one of the most versatile players that we have ever had. She started at third as a freshman, pitched her sophomore year. Started at second base her junior year and played a great center field as a senior. She even asked if she could catch. She was a team captain.”
“I know that I can speak for coach (Robin) Brainard and coach (Julie) Doria when I say we will miss our seniors. They have set an example and they were a lot of fun to coach,” said McDonald.