Oilers fall short to Los Al
LOS ALAMITOS — It’s hard to beat the perfect storm.
Huntington Beach High’s softball team has had trouble winning on the road against Los Alamitos over the years.
The Oilers came into Thursday’s meeting having lost five of their last six trips to Los Alamitos by way of the shutout.
Los Alamitos has a staunch home-field advantage, as fans line the outfield fences in addition to the bleachers.
Throw into the mix that nearly every player on Los Alamitos’ roster has a college commitment this year, and any visiting team is going to have its work cut out for it.
Andrea Gonzalez and Caitlin Ladd hit home runs for Los Alamitos, and the host Griffins defeated Huntington Beach, 6-1, in the teams’ Sunset League Opener.
The Griffins’ offense did everything a prototypical lineup should do. Allison Englant and Kaitlin Parsons scored four runs from the top two spots in the order.
Gonzalez had three RBI in the cleanup spot, with Mary Iakopo and Ladd each pushing one run across for the Griffins (11-2, 1-0).
Incidentally, the Oilers (3-5, 0-1) drew first blood. Jadelyn Allchin led off the game with an infield hit. She advanced to second on a wild pitch. Chance Burden bunted her to third, and Ivy Davis drove in Allchin with a sacrifice-fly.
From that point forward, four-year varsity pitcher Ryan Denhart quieted the Oilers.
After Los Alamitos took a 2-1 lead with two runs in the bottom of the first, Huntington Beach had one more scoring chance in the third.
Taylor Livingston and Allchin reached on infield singles. Burden again advanced the runners, but this time, there were two outs when Davis came to the plate. Denhart struck her out to end the threat.
The Griffins senior power pitcher spoke on the empowering nature of bringing the heat. She allowed just four hits, none of which left the infield.
“As a pitcher, you’re in it every pitch,” Denhart said. “You are in control, where as the other people on the field just have to be prepared to see what is going to happen.
“It’s definitely a different feeling, but you know what you’re capable of. There’s no need to stress.”
Allchin was 3 for 3 in the game. The sophomore center-fielder is committed to the University of Washington.
“She’s good on the outside half. I can give her that,” Allchin said of facing Denhart. “It was just on my part, I needed to stay back on it. I think I did good overall.”
Allchin looks forward to welcoming the Griffins to Huntington Beach, where the Oilers have won three of the last four league matchups.
“At home, we’re definitely going to put up a fight,” she added.
Thursday marked the second straight come-from-behind win for Los Alamitos. The Griffins trailed 4-3 after four innings in their game against Cypress on Tuesday.
“We have the confidence in ourselves to come back,” Gonzalez said. “We know what we’re capable of, so we know how to handle these situations.”
Freshman pitcher Grace Uribe got her first look at league action against the two-time defending Sunset League champions.
The young right-hander challenged hitters, forcing the Griffins to make the most of limited base-runners. She allowed five hits in six innings, and two of the runs against her were unearned.
“We’ve seen a big maturity jump in her over the last four or five games,” Oilers coach Jeff Forsberg said. “Grace is going to be a good one.”
Sunset League
Los Alamitos 6, Huntington Beach 1
SCORE BY INNINGS
HB 100 000 0 – 1 4 3
LA 201 120 X – 6 5 0
Uribe and Hammond; Denhart, Jewett and Iakopo. W – Denhart, 11-2. L – Uribe, 2-3. HR – Gonzalez (LA), Ladd (LA).