NEWBURY PARK >> And breathe.
When the Oaks Christian High School softball team loaded the bases in the seventh inning to bring up the tying run, pitcher Tabitha Dyer and her Newbury Park teammates came together in the circle and took a collective breath.
“In the seventh inning, we took a time out, which was helpful for everyone to collect themselves and take a deep breath,” Dyer said. “It got me focused more and everyone else was more comfortable even though there was a lot of pressure.”
Dyer summoned everything she had for the final two outs, freezing Oli Lucchese on a filthy breaking ball before inducing Brooke Snyder to ground out to first baseman Cory Carrillo to cap a wild 7-3 Marmonte League victory Thursday over Oaks Christian.
“That was a lot of relief,” Dyer said.
Dyer dialed it up a notch with a 136-pitch performance, navigating through Oaks Christian’s dangerous lineup.
Though Dyer gave up three runs and 10 hits, she struck out 10, walked three and hit a batter.
“Every single one of their hitters is really tough,” Dyer said. “I was trying to throw hard and I used my changeup to keep them off-balanced.”
Newbury Park (11-1, 3-0) punished Oaks Christian for making five errors that led to five unearned runs as Oaks Christian (9-3-1, 1-2) dropped its second consecutive league game.
“In my 45 years of coaching, I’ve learned that strikeouts are rally killers and I’m headed to Big 5 to get some glove oil,” Oaks Christian coach Pete Ackermann said.
However Oaks Christian’s suddenly spotty defense is becoming a valid concern.
“The first couple of errors we made in the first two innings carried into the rest of the game and that kind of hurt us,” Oaks Christian catcher Sarah Ketring said. “We need to sharpen up. A lot has to do with reps. We need to focus more at practice. It comes down to the little things. If we don’t make those errors, this is a lot closer of a game.”
Paige Barth went 3 for 4 with two runs scored, Chase Knapp had two RBIs and Serena Huchingson hit a popup RBI triple, on a pitchout no less, to pace the Newbury Park offense.
“We definitely took advantage of the errors,” Barth said. “We tried to hit the ball hard and we picked the right pitches to hit.”
Oaks Christian pitcher Lexi Berg and Felicia Quezada certainly deserved a better fate, but the Lions’ big bats kept them within striking distance.
Oaks Christian center fielder Kayla Ketring launched an opposite-field solo homer in the third inning off Dyer, who will be her future teammate at the University of Pennsylvania.
“I wasn’t expecting her to pitch me inside,” Kayla Ketring said. “She was pitching me outside the whole game, but she got one inside and I got my hands through it and hit it left side, which was a little off for an inside pitch on a left-handed batter.”
Quezada doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth inning and Snyder hit an RBI single in the sixth inning to draw within 5-3, but Oaks Christian was not going to rattle Dyer.
“She was throwing hard and her pitches were definitely moving,” Huchingson said. “They definitely have some great batters over there, but she just did a great job for us.”
