Casa softball girls bomb Montgomery, 11-1

Third straight win for Gaucho softball team|

Casa Grande continued a strong start in softball with a home-opening 11-1 win over Montgomery on a chilly Friday in front of a hearty blanket-covered crowd at the Gaucho diamond. The game was shortened after the top of the fifth inning on the 10-run mercy rule.

Casa, now 3-0 for the season, broke open the game early by scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning.

An RBI single drilled into left field with the bases loaded by freshman shortstop Jaime McGaughey helped get the rally started. McGaughey narrowly missed clearing the bases two pitches earlier when her drive over the left-field fence was called foul by the home plate umpire. McGaughey wound up with two RBIs for the afternoon.

Veteran catcher Skylar Thorpe kept the line moving with a drive to right field for a sacrifice fly. The Gauchos had three well-struck hits in the inning off Viking starter Haley Pillar.

The visiting Vikings (1-4) had a tough assignment facing Gaucho starter Katie Machado. She struck out the first three hitters on 13 pitches, and went on to shut out Montgomery for the first four frames before being lifted by coach Scott Seivers. Machado opened the year with a six-hit 3-2 win over North Bay League defending champion Cardinal Newman.

“Our pitching will be a strength for us this season,” noted Sievers before the game began. Four-year veteran Katie Humphreys gave up only one run in a 9-1 win at Windsor earlier.

Machado (2-0) was almost unhittable in her stint in the circle as she allowed only one Viking baserunner to reach second base. One ball was hit out of the infield when Maddisen Larson lofted a fly ball to center field to Regan Laubscher.

Seaira Pernich broke up any hopes of a no-hit game when she grounded a single to center field for the Vikings. The Vikings had four hits in the game, with a couple coming off reliever Jordan Baughn in the last inning.

Machado capped off a notable home opener with three hits for the Gauchos, including a long home run over the left-field fence in the bottom of the fourth inning. She scored three runs in the contest.

Emily Hart, hitting from the left side of the box, had two hits and scored a run before the contest was halted in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Laubscher also scored three times for the Gauchos, hitting in the No. 3 slot in the lineup. She came in batting a lusty .600 after three hits at Windsor.

After another home game on Wednesday against Tamalpais, the Gauchos will get a severe test when they travel to Antioch to meet a playoff tested team there.

“We upset Antioch two years ago in the first round of the Division II playoffs and got them again in a close 3-2 game at home,” said Seivers. “They will be looking for us.”

Antioch played perennial power Alhambra of Martinez in the North Coast Section Division II championship game in 2019.

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