The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. But when you start by scoring five runs in the first inning, you’ve put yourself in pretty good shape.
That’s how things went for Lakewood Softball on Thursday afternoon against Long Beach Poly, as the visiting Lancers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and held on for a 9-5 victory at Joe Rodgers.
“The girls came out of the gate just swinging, and a little icing on the cake, it was one of their ex-teammates,” said Lakewood head coach Andy Miramontes after his team got the better of former Lakewood pitcher Star Sepulveda. “I don’t know if they think that way, but me personally, it felt pretty good to jump on someone that we used to know, and we did a great job. They came out with seven hits in the first inning, and that set the tone.”
Leadoff hitter Izzy Rueda started the game with a bullet to center field that went off the glove of the Poly outfielder and all the way to the fence. That allowed her to come all the way around for a leadoff homer and a 1-0 Lakewood lead. That was the first of seven hits in the opening frame, with Lakewood hitting for the team cycle (single, double, triple, home run) within the first five batters of the game.
“It felt awesome,” said Rueda of the leadoff homer and hot start. “To be in that leader position and leading off, it feels great to just get the team going and hyped, and everybody’s hyped up for you, and then everyone’s happy in the dugout. And we even take that energy onto defense.”
Jaylene Echeverria had an RBI triple to plate the second run, and scored on an RBI knock by Jamie Ramirez. Later in the inning, No. 9 hitter Isabel Jovel blooped an infield single to score the fourth run, and a bases loaded walk by Rueda put Lakewood up 5-0 after one.
Some shaky defense early on from the Jackrabbits didn’t do Sepulveda or relief pitcher Tegan Breaux any favors, and the Lancers made sure to make Poly pay for those miscues.
Lakewood added three unearned runs in the third inning, getting an RBI single from Katelynn Lewis and an RBI double from Echeverria to close out the inning and make it an 8-0 lead. Echeverria was one of the standouts for the Lancers offensively, going 4/4 at the plate and finishing just a home run shy of the cycle.
“It felt really good that I went 4/4 because I was really struggling at the plate,” said Echeverria, who explained her simplified approach at the dish. “I was just working on getting a base hit every at-bat. Nothing big, just a base hit.”
Poly got on the board with a big rally in the bottom half of the third, as Bailey Holder and Persja Lam Sam each singled to open the inning. Two batters later, Emoni Lam Sam drilled an opposite field triple over the right fielder’s head, plating a pair. She would later score on an RBI single by Kween Tauala, who came in to score on a Lakewood throwing error, making it 8-4 Lancers after three hectic frames.
Poly continued to put the ball in play with authority throughout the game, but the Lakewood defense made a few nice plays in support of sophomore starting pitcher Bella Polanco, who battled well to throw a complete game and preserve the early lead.
“I think our pitcher did a great job. She fell behind a little bit and got a little flustered, but we talked her back in. She hit her spots pretty good … But our defense, our outfield did a great job in a big ball field. They covered a lot of ground and made some key diving plays.”
A few of those great plays were made by Rueda, who tracked back on a hot shot and made a leaping catch to rob extra bases (and a pair of runs) in the second inning. She would later make a diving grab to end the sixth and strand a runner on third base. The ball just kept finding her, and she ended five of the seven innings with a putout in center field.
“I was going into this game thinking, it’s a big outfield, I need to have range and just get to what I can, that was my mentality,” Rueda said. “So being able to back up my pitcher, it feels great. She’s working so hard, and that’s my job is to just back her up and be ready for balls hit like that in this big outfield.”
Poly was able to pull within three on an RBI single from Victoria Sepulveda in the fifth, but Lakewood put the lead right back to four in the final inning as Polanco singled home Natalia Cobarruvias.
Breaux did her job well in relief for the Jackrabbits, covering the final six innings in the circle and allowing just one earned run. She didn’t walk a batter and collected five strikeouts while giving her team the chance to rally back late.
Poly will return to Moore League play on Tuesday as they host Cabrillo, meanwhile Lakewood will hope to keep the bats hot when they rematch with rivals Millikan on Tuesday night.
