The West Valley softball team celebrated a spring-like Saturday at Viking Field by pounding 18 hits to take both ends of a double-header with Porterville. The Vikings (7-2) got 11 hits to stop the Pirates 7-3 in game one, and then stroked seven productive hits in their 10-0 five-inning second-game win.
A double from Emma Courtney and singles from Sydney Heming, Natalie Clevenger and Alaysia Clincy gave the Vikings a 2-1 lead in the second inning. Back-to-back doubles from Courtney and Heming made it 3-1 in the third. WVC added a run in the fourth on an Emelia Araiza SAC fly for 4-1 cushion. Heming and Isabella Gallegos opened the sixth with singles and would score on Clincy's fielder's choice. Michelle Gonzales singled in Cllincy to make it 7-1 heading to the top of the seventh. Porterville (1-6) made it interesting with a pair of runs on three singles to start off the final frame, but would get nothing more.
Rhiannon Underhill scattered five hits and struck out three Pirates to pick up the win in the circle. Heming was 3-3 with an RBI, while Courtney finished 2-3 with a pair of doubles. Clevenger was also 2-3 with an RBI. Abigail Desa turned in the defensive gem of the year so far, with an inning-ending double play in the fifth. Desa dove for a Cienna Enriquez ground ball, gloved the force-out from her knees at second and then threw out Enriquez at first.
Desa scored the only run the Vikings would need in game two when she scored on a Porterville error. Jessie Taketa roped an RBI double in the second that knocked in Dezmyre Cruz, who had opened the inning with a walk. Taketa came home on an E6 to make it 3-0 through two. WVC put four more runs on the board in the third. Gonzales walked to lead things off, and singles from Kassady Alcazar and Courtney loaded the bases for Heming, who cleared them with a screaming triple to left.
Araiza opened the fourth with a single and would score on a Gallegos sacrifice bunt. Alcazar tripled in Gonzales, who had walked, and came home on Courtney's single for a 10-0 lead. The Pirates got two runners on in the top of the fifth, but WVC starter America Maples ended the game with three straight strikeouts.
Maples was a force throughout, as she earned her third win of 2022. After giving up a pair of first-inning singles, she would give up only a fifth-inning single while striking out five Pirates in five innings. Alcazar and Courtney were both 2-3.
West Valley heads to Monterey Peninsula (4-3-1) Thursday to open the Coast Conference schedule. First pitch is 3:00pm.