Linden softball routes McNair for a 30 run victory

It only took half an inning for Linden softball to snatch the game away from McNair in the teams' San Joaquin Athletic Association opener.

The Lions scored run after run, bulldozing their way to a whopping 30-0 victory over the Eagles.

“I feel really good about this 30-piece win,” said Olivia Fears, Linden’s sophomore outfielder. “I feel like the team really came out strong and we brought the energy. I feel like we all came out firing so it was a really great game for us.”

Here are the key takeaways from the Lions' biggest victory of the season and its first SJAA game of the year.

Linden’s unstoppable offense

Within a matter of minutes, Linden’s offense was sending runners around the bases as it could smell a blowout from the first at-bat. Junior Lily Alonso kicked things off with a walk and then Fears came up to bat. The sophomore busted the game open with an inside-the-park two-run homerun giving the Lions their first runs of the game.

From then on it was a clinic. It didn’t matter who came up to bat, they were swinging for it all every chance they got. The Lions ended the first inning on a 9-0 run.

“The most positive thing I saw out there today was definitely our hitting,” said Taya Escalante, Linden softball’s assistant coach. “Our hitting and our pitching was spot on today. I think the most important thing for us is to have fun though and to play at our highest throughout the season.”

Linden was having a blast in this game following up the first inning with an 11-run finish in the second, one run in the third, three runs in the fourth, and six runs in the final inning. Leading them were Fears, Alonso and juniors Laney Cox, Ava Isaacson and Nina Lagorio.

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Alonso ended the game with three hits, four RBIs and three runs while Fears added three runs, three hits and four RBIs. Cox lead the Lions in runs with five runs on five hits. Isaacson finished the game with four runs, four hits and three RBIs. Lagorio reeled in three runs, two walks and a hit.

The Lions will look to bottle up this success and take it with them as they embark on the rest of their SJAA schedule.

“I feel like SJAA play is going to be good this year and a lot of fun,” Fears said. “We know all of our goals is to win league — I think that’s everybody’s goal in league, like, we all just want to win. We just hope we can win and get better and just try to do the best that we can to get ready for sections.”

Trying to create softball players at McNair

While Linden had its way in just about every way possible, McNair struggled in its SJAA opener. After giving up nine runs to start the game, the Eagles offense couldn’t answer back, stranding a runner and getting no hits.

This 30-0 loss marks the largest deficit for them this season, the next largest loss coming against Riverbank on March 6. According to head coach Matt Owens, most of McNair’s players are first-time softball players who are still learning as they go this season.

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“We have some girls that are athletes, but we don't have girls that are softball players,” Owens said. “Most of them come from soccer and other sports and they just started playing softball when they got here, so we’re really trying to build softball players here. It’s all a process.”

Some of the Eagles are still figuring out their strike zone as they struggled against Linden’s pitcher, Lagorio. A bright spot for them came in the second inning when junior Krysti Thao smacked the ball deep to right field for a double. The hit marked their first hit of the game. McNair’s second hit came from sophomore Keira Dominguez, a single in the fifth inning.

With this loss, the Eagles fall to 4-10 while the Lions advance to 7-4. McNair will face Franklin on April 1 looking to get back to winning. Linden will travel to Chavez on March 29.

Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Linden softball routes McNair for a 30 run victory