Scots rally for win

Thursday, however, the Scots were in danger of taking a step backward as they found themselves trailing visiting Burlingame, 4-1.

But Carlmont rallied with four runs in the bottom of the fifth and added an insurance run in the sixth to rally for a 6-4 victory over the Panthers.

“It’s really good to get this one,” said Carlmont’s third-year head coach Marco Giuliacci. “One of the most important wins of the season.”

Carlmont (5-1 PAL Bay, 8-6 overall) has struggled to find any kind of consistency this season and it may have hit its nadir with a 3-1 loss to San Mateo March 26, followed by a pair of blowout defeats against Presentation and Mitty in the Pioneer High School tournament.

That led into spring break and Carlmont extended that break to the diamond — the Scots didn’t play or practice last week.

Giuliacci said there was a lengthy team meeting when everyone returned to practice Monday, which led into the convincing win over Half Moon Bay.

“I felt Tuesday we really started to turn it around,” Giuliacci.

The Scots extended that momentum early in Thursday’s game as they scraped together an unearned run in the bottom of the second.

But by the time Burlingame (3-3, 7-4) finished its at-bat in the top of the third, the Panthers held a 4-1 lead thanks to a prodigious grand slam by freshman catcher Sydney Fleming.

That was the one mistake by Carlmont pitcher Sanni Karhiaho, who threw a complete game while scattering five hits.

“I think she responded well,” Giuliacci said of his senior pitcher. “She battled hard and did a great job.”

With Karhiaho keeping the Panthers’ offense in check, it allowed the Carlmont offense to rally for the win as the Scots scored four runs on four hits and one Burlingame error in the fifth.

With Eimer Cunningham on following a two-out walk and Logan Bonetti on via an infield hit, Burlingame pitcher Chloe McNamara seemed to be out of the inning with the 4-1 lead intact when she induced Jessica Agosti to hit a routine flyball to left — that the Panthers’ left fielder dropped among the swirling, gusting winds that wreaked havoc with flyballs all game long.

Not only did that allow Cunningham to score, it enabled Bonetti to move to third and Agosti into second to bring up Sam Chu. On a 2-1 pitch, she shot a two-run, game-tying double into the gap in left-center.

“[Chu has] been struggling a bit,” Giuliacci said. “I have a ton of confidence in her. I put her back in (the lineup) Tuesday.”

Alisiliani Alusa followed with a base hit to right, with Chu scoring on a bang-bang play at the plate. The throw from Burlingame rightfielder Sydney Crespo beat Chu to the plate, but catcher Fleming missed Chu on her first tag attempt, allowing Chu to dart in for the go-ahead run.

“I’m always excited to have Sam in the lineup,” Giuliacci said.

Despite allowing four hits, Burlingame’s McNamara was not responsible for any of the four runs. In fact, all six of the runs McNamara allowed were unearned.

A Bonetti sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth drove in Karhiaho for the Scots’ sixth run of the game, an inning that was prolonged by Burlingame’s fourth error of the game.

Carlmont opened the scoring with an unearned run in the bottom of the second as Agosti scored on a Burlingame throwing error.

In the top of the third, Fleming showed why she is one of the promising young sluggers in the PAL. She gave a glimpse of her power in the first when she yanked a pitch foul into the parking lot behind left field. She came up again in the third with Adele Friedland (double), Bri Grossman (walk) and Kailey O’Connor (error) on and two outs.

And Fleming did not wait long, jumping on the first offering and blasting a towering shot off the roof of a truck in the parking lot behind left-center field for her third home run of the season.

But Karhiaho shook it off. She allowed only two more hits over the final four innings to earn her seventh win of the season.

“If we lose that game, mentally we’re back to zero,” Giuliacci said. “The week off came at a really good time. We’re definitely heading in the right direction now.”