The Los Alamitos High softball team was snake-bitten twice recently, as their top two pitchers were injured. But sophomore Brianna Jewett stepped into the circle and helped the Griffins defeat Fountain Valley, 8-3, in a Sunset League game Thursday at Fountain Valley High.
The Griffins scored four runs in the first to give Jewett an early cushion and she made it stand up. Aside from a couple of shaky moments for Jewett and the defense behind her was steady.
“Brianna kept the ball down and kept us in the game,” Head Coach Rob Weil said.
Top pitcher, junior Ryan Denhart suffered a severe arm bruise on her pitching arm and will likely be out a couple of weeks. On Tuesday No. 2 pitcher Paige Austin stepped in and pitched a complete game to defeat Edison 4-1.
Austin allowed just five hits, one earned run and had eight strikeouts to improve her record to 5-0 on the season. But after the game she tore an ACL in her knee as she was running to the outfield. She will have surgery and be out the rest of the year.
Against the Barons, junior catcher Mary Iakopo had a home run and two RBIs, while senior Ariana Belarde scored two runs and drove in another. After Iakopo’s solo home run gave the Griffins a 5-0 lead in the third inning, Los Alamitos added three more runs in the top of the fourth to extend the lead to 8-0.
Fountain Valley scored a run in the fourth and two more in the sixth, but the Griffins were able to hold them off from there. Jenna Holcomb was 3 for 3 with two runs, while Allisha Martinez and Andrea Gonzalez each had a double.
Against Edison, Iakopo was 2 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs. Weil said the Griffins don’t try to get too scientific at the plate — their approach is simply, ‘see the ball, hit the ball.’ However, against Fountain Valley he said they were able to work favorable counts and it helped spark their offense.
“We exploit those types of situations and I think that’s what we did today,” Weil said.
The Griffins hosted Newport Harbor on Tuesday and will be at Huntington Beach on Thursday (April 23) at 3 p.m. They will host Marina on April 26, at 3 p.m.