San Marin freshman pitcher Taylor Testa made her first playoff start inside the circle for the Mustangs on Wednesday.
Testa didn’t allow a hit while facing one batter over the minimum in seven innings of work as the Mustangs took care of Albany 9-0 in the first round of the North Coast Section Division III playoffs.
“That was her first no hitter (for San Marin),” coach Samantha Tong said. “I usually pitch her against tougher teams because I know she can handle it and she can handle that pressure. Luckily our defense has been amazing these last few games – very minimal mistakes, very clean game. I think she had full trust in her defense and she was able to pitch it and know that if it gets hit, her defense has her back.”
No. 6 San Marin (14-10) moves into the quarterfinals against No. 3 Cardinal Newman (21-5) at 5 p.m. on Friday in Santa Rosa. The Mustangs played the Cardinals earlier this season, losing 10-9.
Albany’s only baserunner on Wednesday came when Mackenzie Marion – who Tong called the best player on the Cougars (9-12) – hit a fly ball into the outfield that glanced off a glove, allowing her to reach on San Marin’s only error of the night.
Testa, who struck out the first two batters she faced, was aggressive throwing pitches into the strike zone and allowing her defense to do its thing.
“(Albany) has a lot of speed,” Testa said. “So I tried to limit my walks and I came right at them. My defense proved they could definitely get it done. I always have trust in my defense.”
San Marin’s defense was strong all over the field, continuing a postseason trend that has helped them win three consecutive games, including the MCAL title game last Friday.
Lauren Fong made a handful of plays at shortstop and Arianna Mendoza fielded a line drive hit right at her at the hot corner at third to end the second inning. Center fielder Leah Cronin ran down a deep fly ball hit to the warning track.
Second baseman Amanda Postel made a diving catch to take a hit away from Albany and later ended the game by snaring a line drive hit above her head.
“Putting Arianna at third base – she had that rocket hit right at her, just her quick hand-eye coordination there,” Tong said of some of the defensive highlights. “Amanda had that diving catch up the middle at second.”
San Marin quickly figured out that Albany’s defense was not on that same level as the first three hitters reached on plays that all could have been outs. The Mustangs left the bases loaded but had seen what they needed to see to start aggressively taking bases for the remainder of the game.
“That’s honestly something we look for in every team,” Testa said. “Try to find the weaknesses, find where the arms are a little bit weaker than others, and you just have to take advantage of it.”
Mendoza laid down a sacrifice but to put San Marin up 1-0 in the second inning then the floodgates opened up in the third. Testa led off the inning with a single she roped into center field. Pinch runner Olivia Maffei came in and advanced to second on a groundout by Savannah Reynolds.
Ava Free followed with another sharp single into center field. Maffei had to wait at second to ensure the ball dropped, then challenged Albany’s center fielder by not only taking third but coming home as well for a 2-0 lead.
Free took second on the throw home then scored after Shelby Atkinson singled. Another throwing error allowed Atkinson to end up on third and the tone had been set. Samantha Whitlock (two hits, RBI, two runs) hit an RBI single for a 4-0 lead then Postel reached on a throwing error which pushed the lead to 5-0. All told, Albany committed five errors on the night.
San Marin put together another big inning in the fifth which began when Free hit a comebacker to the pitcher but was safe at first on a throwing error. Without hesitation, Free kept running, easily making it to second before the right fielder could get the ball back into the infield.
Atkinson (two hits, two RBIs, two runs) smashed a double off the wall for a 6-0 lead then Postel hit a deep fly ball to center field to make it 7-0. Testa (three hits, two RBIs) capped the scoring with a two-run single into center field to make it 9-0.
