Menlo-Atherton softball bangs out 17 hits in a 14-6 Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division win over Notre Dame-Belmont Friday

Friday, the Bears went on the road to Notre Dame-Belmont, which beat M-A twice last season by a combined score of 22-1.

This season, however, M-A has been scoring runs in bushels and Friday proved to be no exception. The Bears scored 14 runs as they banged out 17 hits and rode a couple of big scoring innings to a 14-6 win over the Tigers.

“We executed the game plan,” said M-A head coach Marcus Blunt.

So far this year, the game plan for M-A (2-0 PAL Ocean, 12-2 overall) has been to score runs — a lot of runs. In 10 of the Bears’ 11 wins entering Friday, they had scored 10 or more runs and the win over NDB (0-2, 6-10-1) makes it 11 in a row.

But they’re not just scraping 10 runs. The Bears have not stopped at 10 runs yet this season. In those 10 double-digit scoring games, M-A’s lowest output was 11 in a season-opening shutout of Fremont-Sunnvyale. The Bears followed that with games of 17 runs, 15, 18, 12, 16, 15, a season-high 19 in a win over Lynbrook, 15, 16 against Sequoia and now 14 against NDB.

“Our team’s hitting tends to be very contagious,” Blunt said.

As was the case Friday. Eight of nine starters had a hit — led by a 4 for 5 day from freshman Lavi Taufahema, who doubled twice and drove in a run. Senior catcher Kylie Cox went 3 for 5 with two doubles and four RBIs. Juliana Pandolfo had three hits, two RBIs and three runs scored, while Emma Loose also banged out three hits.

The one batter who did not record a hit, Carey Maletis, still managed to get on base twice via a fielder’s choice and a hit-by-pitch. She even managed to drive in a run on a groundout and scored twice.

Additionally, seven Bears drove in a run.

And yet, M-A found itself trailing early. Hailey Truong led off the bottom of the first inning by hitting a shot that M-A second baseman Pandolfo made a diving stab to make the stop, but lost her grip on the exchange and Truong was on. She went to second on a Skylar Loo single and scored on a Juliette Ramirez single to left. Two batters later, Stella Hird came through with a two-out single to drive in Loo to put the Tigers up 2-0.

NDB tacked on a run in the bottom of the second when No. 9 hitter Eliana Crespin cracked a double, went to third on a Truong single and then scored when Truong purposefully got caught in a rundown and the Tigers were up 3-0.

“Little nervous in the beginning,” Blunt said.

But the script quickly flipped in the top of the third inning as the Bears scored five times and sent 10 batters to plate. Olivia Rodgers led off the inning by working a walk and Elise Koo, the No. 9 hitter, reached on a error to turn over the batting order.

After a groundout, Pandolfo hit a ball up the middle that NDB second baseman Hird managed to flag down, but her momentum carried her to the second-base bag and Pandolfo was safe, with Rodgers scoring on the play.

Pandolfo would steal second to put runners on second and third before the complexion of the game changed. Maletis came up and hit a sharp grounder to third, with Koo breaking home on contact. The third baseman chased her to the plate, but she botched her underhand throw to the catcher, enabling Koo to score.

The ball went toward the M-A dugout up the first-base line and Pandolfo never stopped running, rounding third and scoring without a throw and just like the game was tied at 3-all.

Cox kept the inning going with a booming RBI double and Sophieann Lin, another freshman, capped the scoring with an RBI single to give the Bears a 5-3 lead, one they would not relinquish.

“We’re going to have that one inning,” said NDB head coach Nick Dykes.

The Tigers actually had two of “those” innings. M-A went relatively quietly in the fourth and fifth innings, but the Bears put together another big inning in the sixth to take complete control.

This time, they scored seven runs on seven hits, sending 12 batters to plate. The top five batters in the Tigers’ order — Nava, Pandolfo, Maletis, Cox and Taufahema — all drove in a run, while Koo delivered a two-run single.

And M-A still wasn’t done, tacking on two more runs in the top of the seventh on a two-run Cox double.

NDB did manage to score single runs in its final three at-bats — Emma Hogan hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth, Bella Pavia scored on the backend of a delayed double steal in the sixth and Molly Hipps drewa a bases-loaded walk in the sixth to account for the final run of the game.

Having gotten off a strong start to the Ocean Division, it only reiterates what the goals are for M-A this season.

“CCS is absolutely the goal,” Blunt said. “We are aiming for (an Ocean Division) title.”