O’Keefe shutout keeps Petaluma on top of SCL

Petaluma took another step in its quest for a Sonoma County League softball title with a 7-0 win over stubborn Piner.|

Petaluma took another step in its quest for a Sonoma County League softball title with a 7-0 win over stubborn Piner on Tuesday afternoon. The defending champions were held in check by Lady Prospector sophomore pitcher Hanna Suppus but took advantage of some sloppy play on the part of the defense of the visitors to chase across some late unearned runs to remain tied with Analy for the league lead.

Suppus had to be on her game to match the efforts of T-Girl starter Emily O’Keefe. O’Keefe limited Piner to only one base runner in the first six innings. Overall, the T-Girl veteran wound up tossing a neat two-hit shutout while striking out 10. No Piner base runner advanced further than second base.

O’Keefe zeroed in on a very generous strike zone, and kept the ball low and very difficult to hit. The Prospectors finally put a couple of base runners on in their final at bat on a hit batter and a line-drive single by Suppus. A soft fly ball to right field ended the proceedings.

With any defensive support, Suppus could have settled into a dandy pitcher duel. Petaluma was held scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when two errors sandwiched around a single by shortstop Alexis Silinonte produced two runs.

Petaluma kept chipping away, adding two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth. First baseman Grace Ghiradelli, who knocked in a run in the fourth, had the most solid hit of the afternoon when she doubled in two more runs.

Ghiradelli swung late on a ball up in the zone, and laced a shot past the Prospector first baseman down the right-field line to chase in a couple of insurance runs. Overall, Ghiradelli had three RBIs in the game. The slugging sophomore went into the game hitting a solid .345 with 15 RBIs.

Emily Corda, Ava Chabot and O’Keefe all had singles for the T-Girls. O’Keefe wound up scoring three runs for Petaluma. The T-Girls improved to 10-1 in the SCL and 13-9 for the season.

Petaluma will attempt to keep pace with Analy when the T-Girls host Sonoma Valley in the final scheduled league game Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. “They gave us trouble at their place earlier this season,” noted coach Kurt Jastrow. The T-Girls edged the Dragons 3-0 in April.

Jastrow also confirmed that the annual SCL postseason tournament will begin May 17.

“The top four teams will play with the first- and fourth-place finishers getting things started on Tuesday. We won’t know about the pairings until after Thursday. If we wind up in a tie with Analy, there are three criteria to determine the first game. The winner of the tournament this season will get an automatic home game in the first round of the NCS Tournament,” he explained.

Additionally, the T-Girls will travel to Ukiah on Saturday morning for a game that was postponed earlier in the season.

Last week, Petaluma had little trouble taking care of Elsie Allen, 15-0, in a five-inning game.

Petaluma scored six runs in each of the first two innings. The T-Girls had 12 hits and received seven walks in the game. Ghiradelli had three hits, and O’Keefe and Emily Corda two each for the T-Girls.

O’Keefe, Ava Chabot and Kailee Silacci combined to throw a one-hitter at the Lobos, striking out 12 and not walking any.

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