19 Apr De Anza Softball Unleashes Offensive Onslaught, Thumps Kennedy 31-1
After losing to the Kennedy Eagles in their previous matchup during last season’s playoffs, the De Anza Lady Dons spent plenty of time running the bases on April 10.
Story and photos by Joe Porrello
De Anza High clobbered Kennedy High 31-1 in just five innings during an intra-city matchup at the Eagles’ home field in Richmond on April 10. Due to the lopsided score, the game was called before the usual seven frames were completed.
With the victory, the Lady Dons moved atop the Tri-County-Stone League standings, while the loss kept Kennedy High in sixth place out of seven teams.
Though not close in record this year, the two teams have been neck-and-neck over the last two decades in head-to-head meetings. The Eagles have 13 wins; De Anza, 14.
More recently, however, the Dons have taken five of six matchups with Kennedy High. The only loss to the Eagles in that span came during last season’s playoffs.
To avoid another loss, De Anza High got contributions up and down the lineup.
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- Aubrianna Garcia, the only starting freshman for De Anza, gathered two doubles, a pair of RBIs, a couple of runs, a walk, and a stolen base.
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- Dons junior Maya Arroyo stretched a double into three bases with her speed. She totaled two walks, 3 RBIs, five runs, a stolen base, and four hits, two of which were doubles.
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- Dons senior Kailah Grigsby, at bat, looks toward an oncoming pitch. She finished the matchup with two hits, an RBI, a walk, three runs, and as the only baserunner with two steals.
Five Dons reached base safely in all of their five-plus plate appearances, and eight had multiple hits.
In the abbreviated game, De Anza had season-high totals as a team in plate appearances (49), hits (23), runs batted in (27), runs (31), doubles (8), and walks (15). The team also had just one strike a season-low strikeout total at the plate (1), made just a single error, stole seven bases, and almost doubled their prior largest win margin of 17.
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- Regardless of the score, De Anza High remained aggressive on the basepaths, while the Eagles had their work cut out for them defensively.
On the mound, the Dons got a complete game from junior Ma’Yhana Moore, who earned the win while only allowing two hits. On the other side of the ball, she did not make a single out, accumulating two walks, three runs, two singles, a double, and four RBIs.
“We were hyped today,” said Moore. “It was a really great game.”
Starting off hot, De Anza High handed the Eagles a four-run deficit before they could even come up to bat.
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- No relief pitching was necessary with Dons junior Ma’Yhana Moore on the mound.
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- The Lady Dons blew out their opponent and had fun doing it.
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- Naeli Sanchez scored the only run of the game for the Eagles and battled through a couple long relief innings.
In their half of the first, Kennedy loaded the bases before Moore walked in a run, but the Eagles would not score again.
By the time Kennedy High came up to bat again, they were down 14. Making two outs at home plate crushed any momentum the Eagles built in the frame.
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- Eagles junior Brianna Leiva was one of two runners tagged out at home plate during the second inning.
In the third, a Dons baserunning blunder ended their only scoreless inning, as senior Kamiyah Jackson got tagged out after being too far off the base. When Jackson took the field following the miscue, she made a difficult catch in right field on a hard hit ball that was still rising as it popped loudly into the webbing of her glove. “You redeemed yourself,” her head coach, Gregory Everetts, said from the dugout.
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- Dons senior Kamiyah Jackson tries scampering back to first base without being tagged out, to no avail.
Leading off the subsequent inning, Kennedy High’s pitcher yelled and motioned to her centerfielder to move backwards in light of Dons senior Giselle Taylor coming up to bat. It was not far enough, as Taylor skied a ball over the head of said outfielder and trotted into third base with a standup triple, propelling a 10-run inning that would ice the game.
Taylor added a double, two RBIs, a team-high four walks, a stolen base to go with her team-leading 15 on the season up to that point, and six runs to bring her team-pacing total to 26.
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- De Anza High senior Giselle Taylor rears back before throwing out a potential baserunner at first.
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- The Dons cheer on senior Giselle Taylor after her triple to lead off the fourth inning.
Despite the wide scoring margin, De Anza High did not let up.
In the fifth, Dons senior Riana Everetts hit her team-leading third triple this year. The hit cleared the bases to help her notch a team-high seven RBIs, so she now paces her squad in RBIs this season as well. She fell a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.
Eagles head coach Yaquelin Valencia cited mental lapses and unforced errors as reasons for the loss.
“I don’t feel like the energy’s there,” she said. “I think there’s certain players that need to pick up on their leadership… and bring everyone together.”
Kennedy junior and team captain Angelica Barrios said she is trying to use her influence as a captain on the soccer team and create a similar dynamic with the softball players.
Also a junior team captain for both sports, Angela Taylor says the team’s mental fortitude must increase.
“We all know that De Anza has a little bit more athletic ability, but I don’t think we should get down on ourselves because of that,” she said. “We go into a game thinking we’re going to lose, and that’s what affects our overall performance.”
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- Kennedy High junior Angela Taylor warms up between innings at shortstop — one of the five positions she played in the loss.
The outcome continued a trend for both teams, each of which have better records away than at home.
A league victory got De Anza back into familiar territory after dropping their previous game 12-1 to Pinole Valley High. The loss was their first against a TCSL opponent since May 2022.
The Dons now hold a cumulative batting average of .431 and are above the national average in nearly every offensive category.
In his second year at the helm, Gregory Everetts has De Anza poised for consecutive overall winning seasons after the team finished with losing records for three straight years prior.
The Eagles, conversely, are on pace for one of their worst records in a decade after finishing last season with a winning record in league play and overall. Kennedy High has not had the same head coach in back-to-back years for the last five go-rounds.
This season, Valencia, the Eagles girls head soccer coach of eight years, took over the same duties for varsity softball.
Due to a lack of players, Valencia asked members of the soccer squad to join the roster. The Kennedy High softball team features eight players who play both sports, and the school does not have a junior varsity program.
“We had a rough start to the season; we barely had nine (players),” said Valencia.
The Eagles did not win until their ninth game, then won two straight on an outburst of a combined 26 runs. Those were their only victories of the season.
Again losing to the Dons on April 12, that time 11-1, put Kennedy High at 2-9-2 overall and 1-7-1 in league play.
After losing five of six to start their campaign, De Anza High has gone on to win six of their last seven and holds an overall winning record for the first time at 7-6.
Ultimately, the Dons will finish their regular season against Richmond High. As will Kennedy, which will host its senior night Friday.
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