Wildness Costs Mater Dei
Tia Bollinger couldn’t remember the last time she hit two batters in one game, much less in one inning.
But Bollinger’s pinpoint control deserted her at the most inopportune time Tuesday. She hit the first two batters in the eighth inning, unloaded a wild pitch, then stood helplessly as Lindsay Nuckolls scored on a passed ball in Rosary’s 1-0 Serra League upset of No. 1 Mater Dei.
It’s the first loss of the season for Mater Dei (22-1, 1-1). It’s the second time Rosary (13-5, 1-1) has beaten one of the top teams in Southern California. The Royals defeated Moreno Valley Valley View, 2-1, with two runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Bollinger struck out 19 and gave up only two bunt singles. The less-flashy Mallory Anderson--a left-hander who struck out only one--Bollinger, in the bottom of the eighth inning--also gave up only two hits, and retired the final 16 batters. She surrendered leadoff singles in the first and second innings, and a two-out error in the third.
“Anderson did a great job,” said Bollinger (21-1), who has 284 strikeouts in 159 innings. “She hit her spots and she was making us hit her pitch.”
Rosary wasn’t hitting anything from Bollinger, and then Bollinger started hitting the Royals. Including the first seven innings Tuesday, Bollinger had walked only 12, but hit Nuckolls on a one-ball two-strike pitch, and hit pinch-hitter Nicole Lee three pitches later.
Bollinger responded with two strikeouts--but not without throwing a wild pitch that allowed the runners to advance. Then her first pitch to Lauren McIntosh, an inside drop, popped out of Jessica Gonzalez’s glove. “It got away from both of us,” Bollinger said.
Nuckolls’ headfirst slide didn’t even draw a throw.
“It seemed like it was slow-motion,” Nuckolls, a freshman, said of her run toward home plate. “Coach told me, ‘If the ball hits the backstop, go.’ That was my cue.”
Anderson (10-3) opened the eighth inning with a strikeout of Bollinger, then two groundouts.
“I felt a sense of relief, excitement, shock,” Anderson said. “I felt every emotion I had.
“I told myself we were going to be here 20 innings if we had to. I was not going to let them score if my defense made plays.”
In another Serra League game:
Santa Margarita 8, Lakewood St. Joseph’s 3--Colleen Bordages had three hits and two RBIs for league-leading Santa Margarita (12-7, 2-0). Nicole Bartholomew gave up five hits and struck out eight batters to even her record at 5-5 for the Eagles.