Taking on No. 2-seed Rosary Academy the Long Beach Poly softball team wasn’t able to string enough hits together as the Jackrabbits fell to the Royals 6-1 in the second round of the CIF Division 4 playoffs on Saturday afternoon.
“Rosary is a phenomenal program,” Long Beach Poly coach Elizabeth Sanches said. “We knew this was a game that the team that made the fewest mistakes was going to win and the team that brought the bats. You can’t have three hits and expect to beat a team.”
After going down in order at the top of the first inning, the Royals’ Hannah Hernandez singled and stole second to get into scoring position with no outs.
Rosary Academy’s Hannah Hernandez pushed her across with a double as the Royals took a 1-0 after the first inning.
Poly’s Bella Alonso retired six batters in a row as both teams went scoreless in the second and third innings.
In the fourth inning, the Jackrabbits got a runner on after a two-out walk, but the runner was stranded.
After getting two quick outs in the bottom of the fourth, the Royals’ Martina Gutierrez kickstarted a rally when she singled to center field.
Nevaeh Trejo pushed the Royals’ lead to 2-0 when she tripled to push Gutierrez across. Danica Silvestri gave Royal Academy a 3-0 lead after she hit an RBI single to score Trejo.
The Royals’ Natalie Romero continued to stifle Poly’s bats as she retired the Jackrabbits in order in the fifth inning.
Rosary Academy added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.
After Poly went down in order in the sixth, the Royals’ Silvestri homered to give the home team a 6-0 lead.
Looking to avoid a shutout, Kassandra Villegas hit a one-out double to keep the Jackrabbits alive.
Kristy Villegas singled to score Danesa Mariscal who was pinch-running for Kassandra.
That would be it for the Jackrabbits’ rally as Romero retired the next two batters.
