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Orellana shuts down Ramona in Valley League opener

By: SCOTT BAIR - Staff Writer | Tuesday, April 5, 2005 11:24 PM PDT ∞

SAN MARCOS ---- The Ramona High softball team entered Tuesday's game on a tear. The Bulldogs had outscored the opposition 41-5 in their last three games heading into a Valley League contest against Mission Hills.

The Bulldogs' hot hitters, however, were cooled off by pitcher Whitney Orellana and the Mission Hills defense in the Grizzlies' 7-1 home win, which was their first-ever Valley League contest.

Orellana only had three strikeouts, but didn't need to do all the work with the quality backup she was receiving from the field.

"The coaches told us over and over again how well they could hit," Orellana said. "We pride ourselves on defense, so we took that as a challenge. We knew we had to play our best in order to keep them from scoring runs like they normally do."

Orellana did her part, keeping the Bulldogs (10-5-2, 1-1) off balance and forcing them to put the ball in play without making solid contact. Mission Hills' defense did the rest, recording two key double plays, and a number of fine putouts.

Second baseman Sarah Vlahos made a bunch of them, including a diving stop to get Ramona catcher Teresa Houle in the fourth.

Catcher Jessica Fedder provided all the offense Mission Hills (10-3, 1-0) would need, going 4-for-4 with a triple, a double, a run scored and three RBIs.

Fedder also took a run off the board. She threw out a would-be base stealer in the sixth inning when Mission Hills was up 2-0. Ramona's Tori Gross and Houle hit back-to-back triples later in the inning, which would have tied the game if not for Fedder's efforts.

"Jessica does things like that all the time," Orellana said. "She really picked me up right there."

The game was much closer than the score suggests. Mission Hills had a 3-1 lead with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, but a costly Ramona error gave the Grizzlies added life that they took full advantage of. They scored four runs after turn a close game into a blowout.

"It took us too long to make adjustments at the plate," Ramona coach Mike Schuler said. "(Orellana) kept us off balance early in the game, but we started to figure it out in the fifth and sixth innings. But no matter how we were doing at the plate, we didn't get it done defensively."

Contact staff writer Scott Bair at (760) 739-6642 or sbair@nctimes.com.