[April 12, 2013] Los Banos softball shuts out Pacheco Tweet Apr 12, 2013 (Los Banos Enterprise (Los Banos - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Los Banos High's softball team maintained its dominance over cross-town rival Pacheco with a 9-0 victory Wednesday at LBHS. Sophomore Brianna Flores went the distance in the circle. "Last game at the tournament, I got two home runs hit off me, so I'm happy," Flores said. With a dropball and a changeup conducive to ground balls, Flores scattered five hits. "She's a gamer. She's got that laid-back mentality," Los Banos coach Dustin Caropreso said. "She's very quiet -- you watch it in all her antics, in swinging the bat, fielding ground balls, just that laid-back mentality, and I think it works for her. Some people it works for and some people it doesn't, but she's throwing well for us." The closest Pacheco came to scoring was in the top of the second inning, when Claudia Garcia tried to score from second on a Shyanne Vargas single to right field. LB right fielder Serena Flores launched a strike from the outfield, getting Garcia out by several steps. "We work on that stuff every day," Caropreso said. "And our motto from the outfield is if we're throwing a girl out, it's either long hop or no hop, and we do a good job of working on that every day." LB threatened in the first inning, loading the bases on a walk, a hit batsman and an error before a fly ball ended the threat. Pinch runner Kailyn Neves gave LB its first lead in the second, scoring on a Melanie Silva groundout. Two more scored on a Savannah Pena single to center field with an error fielding the throw from the outfield. "Going into the bottom of the fifth 3-0, and three unearned runs -- you can't complain about that," Pacheco coach Charlie Pikas said. "And then the wheels just kind of fell off. We made a few mistakes, and they're a good enough hitting team that once they made some adjustments, it was tough." The floodgates opened in the bottom of the fifth when Alexis Barcellos singled and Nicole Marchese doubled, then both scored on an infield error. Silva and Mayra Espitia singled home two more runs. "We swung the bat a lot better today," Caropreso said. "The last tournament we were in we went 1-2, but our at-bats were better. That's what I've been telling the girls is more quality at-bats up at the plate." While LB is a team on an upswing (4-1 in Western Athletic Conference play after a rough preseason), Pacheco dropped to 0-5 in the WAC. "Like I just told the girls at the start of the game, they had seven upperclassmen on the field and we had two," Pikas said. "So we're just right now about trying to finish up and get better as the season wraps up, and understand that we're going to have quite a few kids next year that return with varsity experience, and just build on that. "It's not anything that we knew would happen overnight, so we're just going to try to get better and try to win a game or two the rest of the way and see what we can do." Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at 388-6565 or by e-mail at [email protected] Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at 388-6565 or by e-mail at [email protected] ___ (c)2013 the Los Banos Enterprise (Los Banos, Calif.) Visit the Los Banos Enterprise (Los Banos, Calif.) at www.losbanosenterprise.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]