Fullerton pitchers combine on a one-hitter in league victory over Garden Grove

Fullerton players celebrate after Wednesday’s win over Garden Grove. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

Katelynn Mathews and Analise Barrios combined to pitch a one-hitter to lead Fullerton High School’s softball team to an 11-0 victory over Garden Grove in a Golden Empire League game Wednesday afternoon at Fullerton.

The Indians, playing in their first league game, snapped a two-game losing streak and improved their record to 13-6 overall. The Argonauts lost for the first time in five games and fell to 8-9 and 1-1.

Fullerton jumped on Garden Grove for seven runs in the first inning to build an insurmountable lead. After Hayley Brock (Utah Valley University commit) walked to lead off the bottom of the first inning, Melia Vera, Malaya Majam-Finch (University of Oklahoma commit), and Abby Lee hit back-to back-to-back doubles to give the Indians a 3-0 lead.

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Fullerton then took advantage of a few first inning Garden Grove errors and walks and then Emma Thorson capped off the rally with a two-run single that gave the Indians a 7-0 lead.

“We’ve gained confidence from playing a tough preseason schedule, and our team plays hard and just doesn’t let up,” said Vera.

Mathews, Fullerton’s starting pitcher, hit the first batter she faced in the first inning but then struck out the next three hitters.

The sophomore right hander struck out two more Argonauts batters in the second inning before giving way to sophomore Barrios, who pitched the third, fourth and fifth innings. Barrios struck out three and allowed only a fourth inning single to Taylor Dooley before the game was called after four and ½ innings due to the mercy rule.

“I wasn’t nervous, and I was focused on hitting my spots,” said Mathews. “Our dugout had high energy the whole game and we never let up and that was the difference.”

Barrios said the team remains focused on each game.

“We stayed on top of our game and didn’t let up even when we got a big lead,” said Barrios, a junior.  

Vera had two hits, scored two runs, and had two RBI to lead the Indians. Brock had a hit, a stolen base and scored two runs and Kaylyn Yi was on base three times, scored twice and had a stolen base for Fullerton.

“A win like this gives us more confidence as we move further into league play,” said Vera. “Our coaches preach to us not to let up. Today, we played strong and never let up.”

Fullerton Coach Trevor Holton said he’s pleased with his squad.

“I like where we’re at right now; we haven’t let down and that’s something we talk to the girls about all of the time,” said Holton, who is in his fourth year as head coach. “They continue to focus on each opponent, and we have played some very good competition in the preseason. They work hard in practice, and it was good to see everybody get into the game today and contribute.”

Garden Grove coach Roland Cortez said his team was a little intimidated, but his players will learn from this experience.

“We made several errors, and they had the big inning, scoring seven runs, and we couldn’t recover,” said Cortez. “Our team was a little intimidated playing a team of this caliber, but after a few innings we realized that we could compete with this team. We’ll move past this game and gain confidence from it, knowing they’re a good team but so are we. We’ll give them a better game at our place in a few weeks.”