Pitching perfection: Tracy softball shuts out Bear Creek in SJS playoffs

Tracy softball’s journey to a blue banner began with a San Joaquin County showdown between the Bulldogs and Bear Creek.

The No. 1 seeded Bulldogs hosted the Bruins in the first round of the Sac Joaquin Section Division 2 softball playoffs and with every pitch they got one step closer to the quarterfinals.

“Our defense pretty much won us the game,” said Paulette Keeney, Tracy softball’s head coach. “Our pitching and our defense actually won us the ballgame. They were on their toes, ready for anything even on the balls that were hit into play.”

Thanks to shutdown defense and stellar pitching, Tracy shut out the Bruins for a 5-0 victory thus punching its ticket to the quarterfinals.

A pitching duo

Starting on the mound for the Bulldogs was junior Elisa Galli — she sat down the top of Bear Creek’s lineup in order with ease. The 5-foot-9 righty struck out the first five batters she faced and would be as fickle for all five innings she pitched.

“We haven’t really seen a pitcher like this,” said Darcy Altheide, Bear Creek softball’s head coach. “I mean we got the pitching machine out yesterday and we turned it up a little bit just to help prepare us. But you got to put the ball in play.”

Getting the ball in play would prove to be a tall task with Galli on the mound as every batter came away with nothing leaving a goose egg for the Bruins all game. She ended the game with nine Ks, no hits, no errors and only walked one batter. If it wasn’t Galli giving the Bruins grief it was freshman Hayden Fell.

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Fell took over pitching duties at the top of the sixth inning picking up right where Galli left off. Bear Creek went three and out with her on the mound, thus snatching any hope of a comeback for the Bruins to close out the game. Fell finished with two strikeouts, no hits, no errors and one walk.

“Our pitchers work really well together and it feels really good to know that if one is not feeling her best then I can put the other one in and vice versa,” Keeney said. “Elisa can start the game and I know that if she needs a break I can put Hayden in and not worry. That’s what they’ve been doing the whole year for us.”

Bear Creek's offensive woes

While Tracy had its way defensively, the Bruins struggled to get off the field allowing runs as early as the first inning. The Bulldogs capitalized off the Bruins’ mistakes to hold a 2-0 lead, one they would build on throughout the game.

Senior pitcher Destiny Garcia did all she could for Bear Creek racking up 10 Ks throughout the six innings of pitching. Despite her efforts, the Bruins’ inability to get hits made it impossible to climb their way out of this one.

“Destiny really kept us in the ball game but in the end, you got to put the ball in play to win, if you don’t score you can’t win,” Altheide said. “It’s a learning experience definitely for us as a young team and we’re going to move forward and hopefully we’ll be back stronger next year.”

The Bruins close out the season with a 13-10-1 overall record while the Bulldogs playoff journey continues. They will face No. 9 seed Granite Bay in a rematch of last year’s SJS Division 1 quarterfinals where Tracy lost a heartbreaker 2-1 vs. the Grizzlies.

“I got revenge on my mind definitely,” Galli said. “I feel confident and I just want to be able to go out there and beat Granite Bay because we lost to them last year and I was pitching that game so now I want to get them.”

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Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Pitching perfection: Tracy softball shuts out Bear Creek in SJS playoffs