Punxutawney Phil has stepped into the light and declared it an early spring in 2016, and what screams spring more than softball in February?
Delta’s Softball team got a huge win but lost some valuable playing time.
The Mustangs were set to face two opponents Saturday morning and afternoon on Feb. 13 against Hartnell and Feather River.
Amid much confusion, the 10 a.m. opening pitch was not met, due to missing umpires.
After a nearly two hour wait, replacement umpires arrived and Softball was ready to begin.
Delta College’s game versus Hartnell was to be pushed back to the final game of the evening.
However, after Hartnell fell to the Feather River Eagles 9-4, in the first of the day’s games, Hartnell left the field and campus, not to return for the final game versus Delta.
Head coach Jim Fisher said about the odd events and missing game, “We’re very upset. Supposed to start at 10. Team was excited at 9:30. We like to play at home.”
Third baseman Vanessa Contreras said she was, “really upset, we were ready all day.”
Starting pitcher Kristin Borst said, “It sucks, we were ready to go two games”
The Mustangs and the Eagles were able to begin at 2:15 p.m.
What followed was a showcase of eagerness and dominance by the Lady Mustangs, stacking three large rallies and compiling an 11 run lead by the end of the fourth inning.
The Mustang batters took advantage of six walks by adding eight hits and turning them into 10 runs.
The stars of the match were ,third baseman Vanessa Contreras, and starting pitcher Kristin Borst.
Contreras compiled two hits and Three RBI’s in three at bats.
Borst tacked on her second complete game shutout of the season, keeping her season ERA under 1, allowing 4 hits and walking the first batter of the game. Borst hasn’t allowed an earned run in 23 innings at home since May 3, 2015.
Of the game Coach Fisher said, “Overall pretty happy”, and of Borst’s performance, “She’s getting better and better. She threw well and got the curve going.”
When asked about improvements of the team overall, the main point of work was what he called “dirt reads; reading the ball when it hits the dirt and effectively stealing without being fast.”
Kristen Borst on how she felt about the game said, “Pretty good, start to finish. I pitched my game, and had all my pitches but had my curve going.”
Vanessa Contreras said about Borst, “It’s awesome, she does a great job”
Asked about goals of the season and how it’s going Contreras said, “It’s going good, we’re realizing what we need to do… We’re looking to score runs in every inning and to stay strong.”
Borst too had to say about goals of the season, “The goal is keeping composure no matter good or bad.”
Mustang’s softball is in full swing, and the sun is surely shining a strong light on the team.
The Mustangs’s swept a double header on Feb. 15, by defeating Butte College (15-1 and Yuba City (13-4) to improve to 6-1 on the season
Set again to play at home on Saturday, Feb. 20 in a doubleheader .
First pitch is at 10 a.m. versus Solano College, and concluding with a 2 p.m start time with Reedley.