By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
As the regular season winds down, every game becomes more critical in the race for first place in the Western League.
Palisades took playoff mindset into Thursday’s rematch with Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies and the result was a 10-5 victory at Stadium by the Sea that kept the Dolphins in second place in the standings with five games remaining.
The Dolphins, who prevailed 11-7 in the teams’ previous meeting March 10, outhit the Unicorns 12-4 and, more importantly, did not commit an error.
Calia Hunter walked to lead off the bottom of the first inning, stole second and scored on a single by Daisy Jones.
After LACES tied it in the top of the second, Jenny Talbot hit a home run over the left field fence to put the Dolphins back on top in the bottom of the frame.
In the third, Palisades exploded for eight more runs, with Jones scoring on a base hit by Talia Hunter and Sasha Vanley scoring on a ground out by Jaylene Navarro. Two more runs scored on a single by Samahni Squalls and another came home on a ground out by Milly Acevedo. Jones’ bunt single scored another run and Talia Hunter’s ground out scored sister Calia.
Jones had three hits and stole two bases, Calia Hunter had two hits and scored two runs and catcher Caroline Bamberger had three hits for the Dolphins.
Talia Hunter pitched the first five innings, allowing four runs on three hits with eight strikeouts. Gretel Payne pitched the final two innings, allowing one run on one hit with two strikeouts.
Palisades hosted frontrunning Venice on Tuesday and was held to three hits in a 3-1 defeat – the same score as the teams’ first meeting.
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