Contreraz Wins With Bit of Help : Softball: No. 1 Alemany does the little things to support staff ace in 5-0 victory over Notre Dame.

Big innings needn’t be that big for the Alemany High softball team. Not with Sophie Contreraz on the mound.

A walk here, a slap single there, then throw in a squeeze bunt and that usually provides enough offense for Contreraz.

Alemany, idle for the past two weeks, nickel-and-dimed its way to a 5-0 Mission League victory Wednesday over Notre Dame at Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Park.

The victory moved the Indians (20-1, 5-0 in league play), ranked No. 1 in The Times’ regional poll, two games ahead of second-place Notre Dame (9-9, 3-2).

Alemany collected all four of its hits off Angela Rotstein (8-7) during the fourth inning, parlaying four singles, a walk and a squeeze bunt into a 3-0 lead. Contreraz (18-1) took it from there, stifling the Knights on four hits while striking out five and walking one.

Contreraz’s performance hardly was overwhelming. But then substance over style is usually what opponents get when facing Contreraz.

“She mixed her pitches well,” Alemany Coach Dudley Rooney said. “She doesn’t have a real ego thing about striking out a lot of batters. She knows who’s behind her and that they’ll make the plays.”

Contreraz struggled in only the first inning, and only slightly. Karin Klemic doubled with one out but was stranded after Contreraz retired the side on a pair of groundouts.

Contreraz allowed only seven baserunners and retired 12 of the last 14 batters she faced. The shutout was her 14th of the season.

“We put the bat on the ball, but she kept us off balance,” Notre Dame Coach Cindy Kramer said. “We got hits, we just couldn’t string a couple of them together.”

Alemany’s Jamie Moore led off the fourth with a walk and Tammy Alcantar followed with a single. A wild pitch advanced the runners and both scored on a single by Angela Rivera. Rivera scored on a squeeze bunt by Gloria Dominguez.

Alemany added single runs in the fifth and seventh innings. Notre Dame committed two of its four errors in the fifth.