Valley Perspective

Foothill’s Courtney Fossatti, coming off a perfect game March 24 against Rosary, pitched a one-hitter Saturday, striking out 11 and walking none as the host Knights beat Marina, 7-1, in a pool-play game at the Foothill tournament.

“Courtney had another great game,” Foothill Coach Joe Gonzalez said. “She’s got some extra pitches working for her and has been keeping her pitch counts low.”

Fossatti set the tone early, retiring the Vikings in order in the first three innings before Marina (6-4) was able to do something no other team has done this year--score an earned run with Fossatti on the mound.

Trailing, 4-0, Marina’s Carrie Hagen led off the top of the fourth with a line drive that reached the gap in right-center and went for a stand-up triple. One out later, Heather Saltarelli’s squeeze bunt scored Hagen, producing the first earned run Fossatti has given up in 53 innings this season.

After that, Fossatti retired the last 11 Marina batters and struck out the side in the seventh. She also struck out the side in the third.

Foothill (11-1) took a 3-0 lead in the first when Fossatti scored on a Marina error and Jamie Dotson hit a two-run single that scored Erin Mobley and Kristen Mann.

The Knights blew the game open in the fourth. With the bases loaded, Jessica Reiten scored from third on a passed ball, and an error on the throw to the pitcher covering home allowed the other two runners to score and made it 7-1.

“That’s our style,” Gonzalez said. “We get an open hole like that and we can score a bunch of runs.”