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Long Beach Poly head coach Elizabeth Sanches had one word to describe her Jackrabbits throughout this season: dawgs. The program spent their Saturday traveling to South El Monte to take on the Eagles in the second round of the CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs. The Jackrabbits jumped out in front early and never looked back, as they took care of business in six innings with an 11-1 win.
“I’m really pleased with how we performed today from defense to offense to base running to the energy in the dugout, everything,” Head coach Elizabeth Sanches said. “It was a great day to be a Jackrabbit.”
Persja Lam Sam got on base first after getting hit by a pitch. She had no trouble coming around, as junior Emoni Lam Sam smacked a two run homerun over the center field fence to give Poly an early lead.
“The one thing I knew when it came off my bat was that the tone was set for the game,” E. Lam Sam said. “We were ready to continue to go, pass the bat and just keep the energy going from teammate to teammate.”
South El Monte responded with their first at-bats the same inning. After the first two hitters got out on routine groundballs, a triple from Jasmine Leyva put a runner 60 feet away from scoring for the home team. She was brought around by Alexis Rodriguez’s double to center field, but the infield took care of business for the last out of the inning to hold the Eagles to one run.
However, this didn’t slow the Jackrabbits down for a second. Sunni Vaafuti fought her way on base through a 15 pitch at bat, ultimately ending in her being hit by a pitch. She moved over to second on a groundball to third and then it was back to the Lam Sams.
After going through the lineup in one inning, Persja Lam Sam was back at the plate looking to be the one bringing in the runs this time. She followed through, swatting a double into right center to bring in Vaafuti. Emoni Lam Sam matched that energy, getting her third RBI of the day with a single to second, although the inning ended when she was thrown out at second on the same play.
Poly’s defense came out fired up, looking to keep the Eagles limited to their one run from the first inning. Star T. Sepulveda was in the circle for the Jackrabbits, and although Sanches said the senior wasn’t at 100%, she handled business for the visitors.
Sepulveda started the second inning by tying up Katelyn Berumen. Sepulveda went the distance for Poly, scattering three hits through six innings and striking out five. All of her strikeouts left the batters looking as strike three went by them.
The Jackrabbits continued to attack South El Monte with their offense in the third inning. Senior Kween Tauala singled to left center and then stole second base to get in scoring position. Alayna Veavealagi was hit by a pitch to put two on for the visitors when catcher Janelle Morris came up to the plate.
The junior wasted no time, sending her second pitch towering over the fence for a three run homer. The visitors had now scored through each of the first three innings as they led 7-1.
“To be able to get out and jump on a team sets the tone for the rest of the game,” Sanches said, echoing her third baseman. “If I have to gamble on anything, I’m going to gamble on my offense.”
The fourth inning went quiet for both sides offensively, but there were some defensive highlights from Poly’s infield. A lineout to Bailey Holder at shortstop and a looking strikeout from Sepulveda took care of the first two outs for the Jackrabbits.
The final out came in unique fashion. A hard hit ball to E. Lam Sam at third ricocheted off her glove and diverted perfectly to Holder at short who was able to gun it over to first for the final out of the inning and an interesting 5-6-3 play.
The visitors returned to their dominant offense in the top of the fifth. Tauala started the inning by reaching second with a single and an error. She was soon brought around when Veavealagi smacked a two-run shot over the center field fence for Poly’s third home run of the game.
“Nobody is encouraging the girls to swing for the fences, but that is the result of the fundamentals, the result of steady reps and working hard at practice and fine tuning your craft,” Sanches said. “These girls are all amazing ballplayers. They just have to stay consistent with their reps and work ethic, and that showed today.”
The Jackrabbits didn’t skip a beat in the sixth inning either. After Emoni Lam Sam was walked and ended up on second after a fielder’s choice, Tauala brought her around with a hard hit ground ball to shortstop that resulted in an error on a bad throw. Veavealagi had her third RBI on the day when she singled to left to score Tauala and put the visitors up by ten.
“I have confidence in our bats,” Sanches said. “When I tell the girls to hit away or it’s a situation when I shouldn’t be as aggressive offensively, it’s only the result of my confidence in every single one of their bats.”
South El Monte tried to spark a rally in the bottom of the sixth, starting with a leadoff single from Leyva. However, the next three batters couldn’t move the senior as the infield handled any ball hit. The inning was topped off with a web gem from Holder, who dove across the middle dirt to catch a blooping line drive.
“When we bring our bats, that’s always big, but we have to balance that with defense obviously,” Sanches said of her team locking it down.
Poly’s dominant offense led the team to an 11-1 win after the six innings. The batting statistics for the Jackrabbits were strong, led by Emoni Lam Sam hitting 1.000 with three hits, two runs and three RBIs and Veavealagi going 2 for 3 with two runs and three RBIs.
“As a softball teammate, you know what your teammate has to adjust to, what you have to adjust to,” E. Lam Sam said. “By talking to each other, we keep each other accountable with little reminders and make sure we are passing the message from one person to another so that way the whole team gets the same message and we’re on the same page.”
Poly hopes to stay on the same page for the next few days as they gear up for the next round. However even with the strong win and pushing through to the quarterfinals, Sanches said nothing is changing about her program’s mentality.
“We feel great, but again, It’s one game at a time,” Sanches said.
The Jackrabbits will get a few more days of rest before their quarterfinal game on Wednesday. Poly will travel to Santa Monica High School with first pitch set for 3:15 p.m.
