PACIFICA — South San Francisco scored in every inning and put up 11 of the softball game’s last 12 runs on Friday.
It was, somehow, some way, not enough to get the road win. Terra Nova survived South City’s frenzied rally and won 26-23.
“That was quite the adventure, that’s for sure,” SSF coach Dana Donnenwirth told the Bay Area News Group. “More of a football score than a softball score.”
The stats are as unbelievable as one would expect.
Terra Nova pitcher Liah Trade faced 55 batters and threw 204 pitches, while SSF’s Angelina Rogers hurled 142 pitches to 50 hitters.
“She’s our workhorse, and one of our only seniors,” Donnenwirth said about Rogers. “She’s got an iron arm.”
Host Terra Nova had 25 hits, drew five walks and benefited from six errors.
South City had 13 hits, drew an astounding 16 walks and got on base five times via hit-by-pitch.
The elements played a big role in the offensive explosion.
“It started raining in the top of the first inning, drizzling as we were hitting,“ Donnenwirth said. “Then it started coming down, and both pitchers had a towel in their back pocket to try to dry the ball off.””
Seven Terra Nova hitters had at least two hits. Katie Mitchell was 4 for 5 with six RBIs, and Helena Nieve was 5 for 6 with two RBIs. Trade went 3 for 4 with four RBIs, and Kylie Gangi was 4 for 6 with five RBIs.
SSF’s Rogers and catcher Shiloh Semans each had four hits and combined for nine RBIs. Freshman Kadence Yip put up the ideal Moneyball stat line, drawing four walks, scoring five runs and driving in three runs while going 1 of 2 from the plate.
South San Francisco scored the first two runs of the game, and then Terra Nova put up 12 runs in the bottom of the first to delight the home crowd.
The Warriors answered with three runs in the top of the second, but Terra Nova responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning.
South San Francisco tacked on five in the top of the third, and then Terra Nova put up eight more runs after that. South City scored twice in the top of the fourth and Terra Nova scored three to make it 25-12 entering the top of the fifth.
South San Francisco scored five in the fifth and sixth innings, while Terra Nova could muster “only” one run in the bottom of the fifth.
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The Warriors scored once in the seventh inning, but their final batter grounded out with runners on first and second.
South San Francisco fell to 0-7 overall and 0-3 in Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division play. Terra Nova won its first game of the year to improve to 1-3, 1-0.
“We’re trying to keep the mindset of getting a little better every day, and build on the small successes,” Donnenwirth said. “We’ll break through and get that first W, hopefully soon.”