Sea Hawks Get Back on Track Against Bishop

What a difference a game makes.

After suffering through an error-filled loss to South Torrance on Wednesday, Redondo Union took out some frustrations on Bishop Montgomery on Friday.

The Sea Hawks pounded out 12 hits and earned a 6-4 victory over the Knights in a nonleague softball game at Redondo.

“The girls have been hitting the ball very well,” Redondo coach Jennifer Dessert said. “They are executing the bunts, they’re executing the short game and we’re hitting the ball when we need to. They’ve been ripping it. I’m really proud of my girls for listening and having faith in each other and doing what it takes to win close games like today.”

A four-run burst in the fourth inning allowed Redondo (3-5) to rebound from its 6-2 setback at South Torrance, where the Sea Hawks blew a two-run lead by committing four errors. They limited their mistakes to two miscues against Bishop Montgomery.

The Sea Hawks got a leadoff homer from sophomore Analisa Nicholson in the fourth and two more runs courtesy of two Bishop Montgomery errors. Leadoff hitter Cindy Zamudio, who went 3 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored, added another run, allowing the Sea Hawks to take a 5-0 lead.

But the Knights bounced back with a four-run rally in the fifth, cutting the Sea Hawks lead to one.

Redondo added a run in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single to left by Juliana Jordan for a two-run cushion. Then, pitcher Brett Aspel (3-3) retired the Knights in order in the final two innings to secure the win.

Zamudio, the team’s senior shortstop, said the Sea Hawks used the South Torrance defeat as a learning experience.

“I think South was a good challenge for us and we learned what some of our weaknesses are, but we came out and fixed some of them in this game,” Zamudio said. “We played a lot better.”

Some of that could be attributed to Dessert shaking up the lineup. Nicholson, who went 1 for 3 with a walk and made some nice plays at second, was one of the players who didn’t start against South Torrance, but Dessert penciled her into the lineup against the Knights.

“She’s one of my girls I’ve been working with to close her stance,” Dessert said. “I already knew she could hit the ball that hard because she’s a line-drive hitter. She likes to slap for power, but she can hit it out, too. For that to happen today made me real proud.”

Dessert also was pleased the lineup changes paid dividends.

“Sometimes you’ve got to change it up to find out what the flow is,” Dessert said.

The offense was flowing from the start for Redondo. It loaded the bases with consecutive singles by Zamudio and Jordan, who went 1 for 3 with a double and run scored, before Linda Park drew a walk. Aspel singled home Zamudio for a 1-0 lead with one out, but Redondo didn’t manage anything else and left the sacks full. Still, the tone was set.

They responded with their game-winning output in the fourth and it lifted them to victory.