San Mateo softball rallies from 5-1 deficit to beat Hillsdale 8-6 in nine innings

“The way it started and the way we came back also contributed (to the celebration),” said San Mateo head coach Robert Burley as he team was whooping it up after the game.

“It’s just a league game and we don’t want to make it more than that, but we haven’t beaten them in a few years.”

That’s an understatement. It was the first win over Hillsdale dating back to 2006.

Using the international tiebreaker rule in the top of the ninth inning with San Mateo (3-2 PAL Bay, 8-4 overall) starting the inning with Anya Chang starting at second base, she came around to score when Hillsdale (3-1, 8-7) could not cleanly field and throw out Marissa Kim, who put down a sacrifice bunt.

The unearned run became moot because Jana Davies, the No. 9 hitter, drove a pitch to left field that got over the outfielder’s head for a two-run homer and an 8-5 advantage.

The Bearcats then had to hold on in the bottom of the ninth to notch the win. Hillsdale drove in ghost runner Taylor O’Mahony, who started the inning at second base before stealing third and scoring on Mia DeMartini’s infield hit. Hillsdale would eventually have the game-winning run at the plate, but Hernandez got a pair of flyouts to secure the win.

It was a gutty performance from Hernandez, who entered the game with one out in the bottom of the first inning. She made one serious mistake — grooving a 3-0 pitch to Sophia Shelton that she blasted to the left-field corner for a home run and a 5-1 Knights’ lead.

O’Mahony followed with an infield hit, but that would be Hillsdale’s last hit until a G Brum single in the bottom of the seventh inning. Hernandez would end up pitching 8 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits.

“Celia did a heckuva job,” Burley said.

She needed to be on point to give her offense a chance to rally. The Bearcats took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Alice Han led off the game with a walk. She went to second on a wild pitch, took third on a Demi Alfonso grounder and scored on a Zhou groundout.

Hillsdale didn’t wait long to answer. There are eight ways to score a run in high school softball and the Knights used four of them — and none of them was a hit. O’Mahony plated the tying run on an error, Lola Jones drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, Brum had a bases-loaded walk, followed by Parker Jensen getting hit by a pitch with the bases still loaded as they scored four runs in the inning.

Shelton’s homer in the second made it 5-1 before San Mateo started its rally. The Bearcats got a run back in the third when Han led off the inning with an infield hit and took second on a throwing error. She went to third on a passed ball and scored on a Zhou groundout to close the gap to 5-2.

“At that point, it’s just about chipping away,” Burley said.

The game was tied at 5-all an inning later, with Han, once again, doing damage. Kim drew a two-out walk to get the rally going, followed by a single from Davies to turn the batting order over and bring leadoff hitter Han to the plate.

She worked the count full before drilling a shot into the right-field corner. She tore all the way around the bases, scoring standing up for a three-run homer and a tie game.

“When we scored the second run, I thought we’d be OK,” Burley said. “Once we got back to the top (of the batting order), I felt we had a shot.”

Han finished 2 for 3 with a walk, the homer, three RBIs and three runs scored.

After that, the game evolved into a pitcher’s duel between relievers. While Hernandez came into the game in the first, Hillsdale didn’t go to its bullpen until after that San Mateo three-run fourth, turning to Lola Jones, who was the winning pitcher in that CCS championship game last season.

She didn’t start because she had just flown back into town Wednesday night after a school-related trip to Spain.

Jones showed no rust as she and Hernandez matched zeroes until the ninth inning.

“Just (everyone) do their job,” Burley said.