Sophomore starting pitcher Ashley Hester pitched a complete game shutout as the No. 15 Vikings defeated No. 5 Mt. San Antonio 3-0 on Thursday.
The Vikings would start the game off hot as they scored all of their runs in the first inning.
The rally started off with an infield single hit by sophomore center fielder Alia Marquez who would then score on a single hit by sophomore left fielder Jasmine Delgado.
With the bases loaded freshmen designated hitter Alynna Gonzalez would bring in two runs on a single to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead.
Gonzalez has typically been a bench bat for the Vikings, but she was given her first start of the year. When asked about her performance in her first start Gonzalez answered,” It was an opportunity for me to have my team and Hester’s back because she pitched an amazing game. It was a good team win at the end of the day and I’m just excited that I was able to be a part of that.”
In the second inning Hester would find herself in a bases loaded jam with two outs. Hester worked into a full count and would then strike out the batter leaving all three runners stranded.
When asked about that at bat Hester responded, “ I think it was huge being able to strike that batter out with a full count. It was really good motivation for our team to try to keep scoring runs and playing good defense.”
The game would remain scoreless going into the top of the seventh where Hester would once again get into trouble. With the game on the line in the top of the seven with two outs and the bases loaded the game would go into a thirty minute weather delay because of the rain.
Coming back from the delay it took Hester two pitches to retire the batter and secure the 3-0 victory for the Vikings.
When asked about what was going through her mind during the delay Hester responded, “I was pretty upset that we couldn’t finish the game right there, especially because we had two outs. I think that it was good that we took the time to let the rain stop for a little bit so we could play in better weather.”
With this victory the Vikings were able to avenge their loss to Mt. San Antonio in their previous meeting.
When asked about the keys to success in this victory head coach Megan Martinez responded “I think we just stood true to ourselves instead of thinking about who we’re playing and what they are ranked. We went back to the basics and Ashley was pounding the strike zone and kept them off guard. We just kept trusting ourselves and we’ve been working on that all week. Just playing like who we are instead of focusing on rankings.”
Despite being scheduled to play six consecutive away games, the Vikings road schedule was cut short as the rain forced the Vikings to have two consecutive home games. When asked about the large number of away games being rescheduled to home games because of field conditions Martinez responded, “The taxpayers of Long Beach put us in this opportunity to have this gorgeous facility. We like to represent ourselves and this community and we’re proud to be able to host as many games as we can so we hope the rain continues. We were able to play in a little hail today and the weather is not a factor because we are able to practice and perform in it.”
The Vikings hope to stay hot as they host Cerritos on Friday March 31st.