SAUGUS — Sean Pollard is in his second season as head coach of the Valencia softball team, but he borrows a phrase from his predecessor, Donna Lee.
“Protect the legacy,” Pollard said. “We take that pretty seriously.”
The Vikings are striving for a second straight Foothill League title with that phrase in mind, and they took one step closer to that goal by beating Saugus 2-1 on Tuesday afternoon.
Junior pitcher Carly Kearns threw all seven innings for Valencia (15-4 overall, 8-0 in Foothill League) and recorded seven strikeouts to help keep the Vikings unbeaten in the Foothill League.
“I was practicing throughout the week and just trying to lock in,” Kearns said. “And then during the game, I was just trying to keep the batters off balance and just stay positive within myself.”
Some early offense helped relieve some stress for Kearns and the rest of her team. Jeanelle Bacat (1 for 4, one walk) hit a leadoff home run. She almost hit another homer in the third inning, but the ball dropped just before clearing the fence in center field.
“She’s always consistent,” Pollard said, “but every now and then she just will show power and you’re just like, whoa.”
Saugus (10-8, 5-3) evened the score in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI double by Kaylie Stauffer that drove in Savanna Smith. The Centurions, who are tied with West Ranch for second place in league, left two on base at the end of the inning.
Kearns drove in Riley Jossett in the top of the second on a sacrifice groundout for the go-ahead run.
Saugus made a pitching change after that and brought in freshman Riley Nelson, who went on to pitch 5 1/3 innings of relief and gave up only three hits and struck out six hitters.
“She is a freshman, but you can tell that she has that demeanor,” Saugus assistant coach Anthony Ramirez said. “I would call it a bulldog mentality to come in and not let nothing faze her or affect her when she comes in with bases loaded or in the middle of it and shut the team down.”
Saugus was without head coach Amanda Clark for the game. Ramirez said that she is expected to return for Thursday’s home game against West Ranch and was out Tuesday due to family obligations.
Saugus athletics declined to comment on Clark’s absence.
“She’ll be back and she obviously wanted to be here,” Ramirez said. “She watched the game and everything, and she was proud of the girls.”
The Centurions had a chance to tie the game in the sixth inning when Stauffer singled to get on base and Avery Alvarez hit a sacrifice bunt to move her to second. Kearns struck out the next hitter and the Vikings got out of the inning by forcing the final Saugus hitter to pop out to left field.
Valencia and Saugus both were playing in their first game since before spring break, giving each team roughly a week without playing time.
“It was a wake-up call immediately,” Pollard said. “It’s a rivalry and you always are gonna get their best, they’re always gonna get our best. It’s good to come back and have that right away and make sure we’re going in the right direction.”
More softball scores from Tuesday:
Burroughs 7, Crescenta Valley 5
Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy 16, Marymount 3
Canyon 7, West Ranch 3
Golden Valley 8, Castaic 1
Sierra Canyon 7, Louisville 1
Paraclete 15, St. Anthony 5
Camarillo 7, Notre Dame 3
Chaminade 4, Alemany 3
Westlake 9, Newbury Park 4
Agoura 14, Thousand Oaks 3
Viewpoint 13, Brentwood School 0
Grace 4, St. Bonaventure 2
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