When Kaylee VanLoo rocketed a double to the gap in right-centerfield on the first pitch of Wednesday night's District 9 tournament softball game vs. Versailles, there was a ripple of hope for the winless California Pintos.
That hope was short-lived.
Lady Tigers senior pitcher Shelby Chamberlain retired the next three batters to get out of the first unscathed and set down 17 of the 20 who followed en route to a dominating 11-1 mercy-rule-shortened game.
"That was a senior's mentality, to give up that first hit and then relax and say "OK, I got that out of the way,'" said Versailles head coach Renee Winters. "She did a good job and was very confident."
Chamberlain struck out eight and walked just one in her six innings of work, while her teammates took advantage of seven Pinto errors to end the game early.
"That's youth," said Pintos head coach Leah Urich, whose team features four freshmen starters. "We're a very young team, and it showed a bit tonight."
After scoring once in the second, the Lady Tigers erupted for six runs in the third, including an RBI triple from Chamberlain in support of her own effort. Two frames later, Versailles tacked on three more runs in an inning that started with three consecutive Pinto errors.
Down 10-1 going into the bottom of the sixth, the Pintos were unable to keep Versailles off the board, as Kaylin Calton tripled and scored on a single by the next batter, Tiffany Young, to end the game early.
The lone Pinto run came in the fourth on a leadoff triple by sophomore Ashlyn Moore, who scored three pitches later on a passed ball. But Chamberlain recovered and retired the next three hitters, two on strikeouts.
After the game, Urich emphasized the positives for her young squad, which finished the 2014 campaign 0-20.
"They struggled this year, yes, but they played really hard and we have no regrets," she said. "We faced a good pitcher tonight and weren't afraid to swing the bat. We've got 10 solid players for next year. We're looking forward to it."
story created on Friday 10/10/2014