Rocklin holds on for a win at Woodcreek, 7-5

The visiting Rocklin High School softball team edged Woodcreek High last Friday afternoon in a non-league tilt at Mahany Park in Roseville. The Thunder pounded out 10 hits for seven runs and quelled two Woodcreek rallies for the 7-5 victory. Rocklin High sealed the triumph in the bottom of the seventh inning when Amaya Farleigh drove in Sydney Barker for the sixth and deciding run. The insurance came when Farleigh came home from third on a bases-loaded base on balls. The top half of the final frame ended with the Thunder leading 7-3. Woodcreek High scored in the top of the inning beginning with a single by Mary Zepeda, followed by a double off the bat of Bailey Jones. Zepeda and Jones crossed the plate on Darcy Miller's single to close the scoring gap to two. However, Rocklin High's Barker, at shortstop, turned in a double play and closer Ava Messina got the final batter to fly out to center for the win. "We have two young pitchers this year," Thunder Head Coach Mallory Asaro said. "So we put a lot of work in on our defense. We tell our pitchers to have confidence in those behind you. Our middles and corners do really good jobs of making the plays they're supposed to and helping their pitchers out." Rocklin High's biggest inning came in the fifth when the visitors scored four runs. Putting their footprints on home plate were Cate Gladden, Kamryn Buffington, Chole Kimbrell, and Barker. The T'wolves scored a single run in each of the third, fifth and sixth innings, before their final two runs in the seventh. "We came out kind of flat," Woodcreek High head coach Gary Ybarra said, adding that his pitchers were also young: sophomore Sydney Wilkins and freshman Chole Schmidt-Wolf. Wilkins went five innings giving up eight hits, five runs (one unearned) and struck out three. Schmidt-Wolf surrendered five hits and two runs. In the circle for Rocklin High were freshman starter Devyn Brown and sophomore Messina. Woodcreek High collected just four hits and two runs off Brown in 4 2/3's innings; she struck out two. Messina was tagged with seven hits and two runs but did a masterful job of working her way out of a tough inning. After recording two outs in the fifth frame, Messina walked three batters and gave up a hit and one run. But the sophomore righted the ship with the bases loaded on a flyout to centerfield. "I think the biggest thing for me is I want to get as many bats going as possible. So we try to get as many people in the game as possible," Asaro said. "We use it as a chance to progress. It's how you get better." At the plate, Gladden had three hits, including a double, knocked in two runs, and scored. Marley Hogue had three hits and an RBI, players getting two hits apiece were Barker and Farleigh. The top hitters for the Timberwolves were Maliyah Lawson, Miller, and Annie Pelzman with two each. Miller also had two RBIs and scored. Woodcreek High (7-4-1, 2-0 Capital Valley Conference) has games Monday through Thursday next week, three at home and one at Bella Vista, Wednesday. Visiting in order are Folsom, River Valley and Yuba City. The Thunder (7-6, 2-4 Sierra Valley League) host Del Oro Monday and travel to Oak Ridge Tuesday.