Mills tops Mercy in 2020 softball opener

Sophomore Ady Kim stepped up to enjoy a big showing. With regular third baseman Cassandra Stanley out of action due to injury, Kim took to the hot corner like a charm, leading the Vikings at the plate going 2 for 2 with an RBI and a run scored.

“I think we did good,” Kim said. “We don’t have a lot of basketball girls, so I think we did well. As a team, we pulled through.”

With the girls’ basketball postseason still in progress, the Vikings are still missing two key players in junior Victoria Williams and sophomore Ione Thompson, making Kim’s versatility all the more valuable. Last year, as a varsity freshman, she played mostly second base in addition to pitching.

“Given the makeup of our club, Ady is definitely the Mills example of next man up,” Mills head coach Chris Hammond said.

After Mills jumped out to a 4-0 lead through four innings, it was Kim’s glovework, along with the arm of junior catcher Veronica Turner, that helped keep a late charge by Mercy in check.

In the top of the sixth, the first two Mercy batters reached base to put runners at the corners with no outs. But with freshman Jaimee Fabula at the plate, the runner at third drifted too far down the line on the first pitch of the at-bat, allowing Turner to fire a throw behind her with Kim applying the tag for the first out of the inning.

Mercy head coach Mike Davis said he forgave the baserunning mistake as a symptom of the aggressive play he preaches.

“She’s aggressive,” Davis said. “And I don’t not teach aggressive. But she got burned.”

Mercy went on to rally for two runs in the inning, with RBI singles from Fabula and junior Bella Alterio. In the seventh, Mercy plated one more run on a two-out single by Karla Joachin-Alvarez.

But Mills reliever Nya Thompson weathered the storm to end it on a fly ball to center field, earning the save with two innings of work.

“I think with our first showing, with the difference of some routine plays, we could have come out with the win in this one,” Davis said.

The Vikings got the bats going early to generate all the offense they would need. Kim, Taylor Whitney and Leila McGraw each produced two hits. And Mills got on the board in the first inning on a two-out RBI single by Turner.

“This time of year, the bats are typically behind the pitching,” Hammond said. “But we had some nice, timely performances today.”

Mills added a run in the third when Whitney scorched an RBI double to right-center to score Kim. Then in the fourth, McGraw led off with a double and Nya Thompson followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Hannah Kwong and Kim cashed in later in the inning with back-to-back RBI singles to put the Vikings up 4-0.

Starting pitcher Sofia Mosqueda worked five-plus innings to earn the win for Mills. The junior allowed five hits and struck out two before giving way to Nya Thompson.

Mercy freshman Katie Koenig pitched a complete game in her varsity debut and settled down as the day wore on.

It isn’t uncommon for Mercy to utilize freshmen in the circle. With Davis now in his third year running the program, he has already pitched three freshmen, including in 2018 when Hailey Armstrong was the Crusaders’ ace. Armstrong left Mercy this year to be home schooled, Davis said, hence his turning to Koenig to start the year.

Mills, despite winning the Ocean Division title last season, will remain in the PAL’s lower league this year. The Vikings are still relatively young, with just one returning senior on the roster in Whitney.

The return of Thompson — once the Mills girls’ basketball team has finished its Central Coast Section postseason — should best exemplify the Vikings’ youth. As a freshman last year, Thompson shared PAL Ocean Player of the Year honors with now-graduated Karizma Bergesen from South City, now an NCAA Division I player at San Jose State.

“But that was last year,” Hammond said of the Vikings’ 2019 success. “We have bigger goals this year … to see if we can earn a spot in the [upper PAL Bay Division] up the road.”