Softball Bounces Back from Lopsided Defeat to Lincoln

After a tough loss, winning is the best medicine.

Having dropped its season opener to Lincoln 13-1 two days earlier, the Palisades High softball team sought to rid itself of the memory against Reseda on Saturday in its first game of the Lincoln Classic.

The result was a 7-2 victory over the host Regents — the first victory for first-year coach Tori Dario. Sophomore Paulette Ely pitched a two-hitter with six strikeouts, junior Daisy Jones went three-for-three with one RBI and two runs scored and freshman Sasha Vanley had two hits and three RBIs for the Dolphins, who set the tone with four runs in the first inning.

Senior Monika Swanson had one hit, two RBIs and one run scored and freshman Calia Hunter had two hits, one run and one RBI. The Dolphins lost the afternoon game 5-3 to Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth. Freshman Talia Hunter pitched four innings and had two hits, Swanson had one RBI and a run scored and Vanley had a hit, a run and an RBI.

Palisades got off to a good start against Lincoln, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Vanley laced a single down the left field line to score Jones from second. Jones and Ely led off the inning with back-to-back walks.

“It was a 2-2 count so I was kind of scared,” said Vanley, who played at West LA Little League. “The pitch was inside and I didn’t see where it went, I just started running.”

Lincoln scored five runs in the top of the second inning to take the lead and widened the gap on Desiree Quintero’s two-run homer in the fourth. The Dolphins committed seven errors and were held to four hits. Ely had two strikeouts in four innings and Talia Hunter struck out one batter in three relief innings.

“We’re a really young team and the biggest thing is that mentally we really have to prepare,” said Ely, one of the team captains. “I think we’ll be  good when it all comes together.”

Dario was an assistant under Manny Flores last year and wanted a stern test out of the gate to gauge where her young team stands.

“A lot of it was nerves,” she said. “We had higher hopes for today but we have to brush this off and not let it carry over to the next game.”