After five weeks into the varsity softball season with nothing but 12 straight losses to show for it, the South City Warriors could have easily thrown in the towel.
If anyone had an excuse to give up on the season, it was the Warriors’ lone senior, Angelina Rogers. With South San Francisco High School’s senior prom held Saturday at The Pearl in San Francisco, Rogers went all out, spending $50 to have her fingernails manicured for the most anticipated event of many a high schooler’s social calendar.
Rogers had the manicure done last Thursday, one day prior to South City’s Friday game against Lincoln-SF. The Warriors hadn’t won a game to that point. But there was something about the zing of Rogers pitches that woke up her team.
“We could hear the ball coming off the acrylic nails,” South City head coach Dana Donnenwirth said.
South City went on to win the game in dramatic fashion, walking off in extra innings on an RBI single by freshman Syd Semans to score Vanessa Miller in the bottom of the eighth.
“It was amazing,” Rogers said. “It felt so great to finally win after that loss streak. ... Everyone was jumping for joy. So happy that we finally got our first win.”
The win sparked a three-game winning streak for the Warriors, who returned to action Tuesday for an 18-0 mercy-rule victory at Jefferson. It was a bittersweet outing for Rogers, who whirled a three-inning no-hitter in the shortened, mercy-rule format, while also clubbing a grand slam home run at the plate.
“She was throwing really well,” Donnenwirth said. “Kind of pounding the strike zone. That’s kind of her MO. … She was definitely challenging their hitters and coming out on top.”
Prior to the game, however, Rogers pried off her expensive manicured nails in an effort to avoid the uncomfortable grip she had on the ball five days previous.
“It was a bunch of money just down the drain,” Rogers said.
So far as the Warriors are concerned, the sacrifice was for a good cause.
“That’s the kind of commitment she’s got,” Donnenwirth said.
Rogers went on to team with Semans in the circle Wednesday in South City’s rivalry game, a 17-9 victory at home over El Camino. It marks the Warriors’ third straight win.
Semans earned the win, taking over for Rogers in the third inning after El Camino erupted for six runs to take a 6-3 lead. But the Warriors fired back with seven runs in the bottom of the innings, and scored seven more in the fifth.
Rogers led her team at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a double and three RBIs.
South City hasn’t lacked for firepower at the plate this season. The Warriors are batting .308 as a team, with Rogers the second-leading hitter at .531, while leading the squad in hits (26), runs (28), doubles (nine), and in home runs, as her grand slam against Jeff was the team’s only round-tripper of the season.
Syd Semans paces the team with a .533 average, while junior Shiloh Semans is batting .500, and junior Maggie Bergesen .462.
South City’s rivalry game with El Camino continues to honor the late Michela Gregory, a former South San Francisco High School student, who died Dec. 2, 2016 in the Ghost Ship Fire in Oakland. The annual rivalry game was first dedicated to Gregory in 2018.
“It’s a good game,” Donnenwirth said. “There’s other things more important than softball, but at the same time it’s good competitive juices for the trophy that every team wants to take home every year.”
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