SAN JOSE — To most watching at Archbishop Mitty’s softball field Wednesday, it was the West Catholic Athletic League opener.
But to the teams playing, it was much more than that.
In a battle between two of the top softball teams in the state and in a series that could have league title implications, it was St. Francis that came out on top as the Lancers beat Mitty 6-0.
Wednesday’s contest was the first of a two-game series as Mitty is scheduled to travel to St. Francis on Friday.
“Any time you play Mitty, you have that feeling that it’s like a playoff game,” said St. Francis coach Mike Oakland. “It’s just a super intense emotional game with two really good teams. The fact that it’s a series is big because like you don’t want to lose both of them.”
Kate Munnerlyn had a dominant outing at the plate and in the pitcher’s circle for St. Francis. The Texas A&M commit went 3 for 3, had four RBIs and hit a three-run homer. She struck out 11 and allowed just two hits in a complete game shutout.
St. Francis sophomore Jaime Oakland went 2 for 3 at the plate and had an RBI.
Both teams came into Wednesday’s game as two of the top defensive teams in the state, allowing under two runs a game. The stingy defensive play was evident throughout the early innings.
Mitty pitcher Kyleigh Mace allowed one hit through the first four innings as the game remained in a 0-0 stalemate early.
But the fifth inning is where St. Francis found its offense.
St. Francis junior Ava Bulanti was walked to start the inning and Ava Wong was brought in as a courtesy runner for the catcher. Two at-bats later, Maya Yumiba reached first base and Wong reached third on a fielder’s choice.
In the next at-bat, Jaime Oakland knocked in Wong on a single down the third base line to put the Lancers up 1-0. After Rebecca Quinn was walked, Munnerlyn was up to bat with two runners on base.
As Munnerlyn took a 3-1 pitch down the middle, the noise of the contact the bat made with the ball ensued a collective sigh from the Mitty crowd as the ball went well past the center field wall.
4-0 St. Francis.
“That was the first home run this season I knew was out,” Munnerlyn said. “I touched it and squared it up so well that I just knew it was out. It felt amazing, especially against Mitty.”
The fifth inning explosion was the turning point for the Lancers. Munnerlyn continued her dominance in the pitcher’s circle, allowing just one hit and striking out three batters from the fifth inning on.
“We knew that we were getting to the point where we were going to score because we were getting on base in the earlier innings,” Jaime Oakland said. “We just had to get to that point and it happened in the fifth inning.”
St. Francis added insurance runs in the top of the seventh, when Munnerlyn doubled to bring home Oakland. In the next at-bat, Ali Mitloff was brought in as a courtesy runner for Munnerlyn and scored after Shannon Keighran hit a line drive single to right field to make the score 6-0.
St. Francis remains unbeaten and extended its winning streak to 14 while Mitty dropped to 11-2.
Mitty coach Megan Yocke acknowledged there are areas that the Monarchs need to clean up before the two meet again on Friday, but said she was proud of the way her team battled.
“I appreciate that the girls didn’t just roll over and hand it to them because that’s not who we are,” Yocke said. “We just need to buy into what our approach has been all year.”
