Los Altos Hills – In what had been a marathon 24 hours for the Foothill Owls and the Taft Cougies — including a two-game series played in the span of a day at the Foothill field — Gabby Mataele capped off game two of Saturday’s split doubleheader with an eventual walk-off single to give the Owls a 4-3 victory.

Earlier in the day, the Owls were unfortunately decimated when they dropped the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader 8-2.

Both teams received weak and strong outings from their starters in these two outings. In game one, Taft Cougie’s starter, Jocelyn Reyes, went four solid inning of two-run ball with only one walk and three hits. Vanessa Ramos went seven innings while giving up eight runs, two home runs, and four walks.

In game two, however, the Cougie’s starter Roslyn Maini went four innings while giving up two runs on four hits while walking two and striking out only one. The Owls starter, Tiana Bolin, went seven innings with a three-run ball on nine hits while striking out four and walking one.

The rally began in the bottom of the 4th inning of the second game with a walk to Riley Linda followed by Mirella Osuna reaching first and advancing to second because of an error by Roslyn Maino. That would later result in Linda scoring from first and tying the game 2-2. This was followed later in the 5th inning with another error which resulted in Maggie Renteria and Vanessa Ramos advancing to second and third respectively, and then being singled in by Emma Bice and Gabby Mataele to take a 4-2 lead and an eventual 4-3 win.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Owls thwart Cougie threat: With the Owls up 4-2 at the top of the 7th inning, they narrowly escaped what could have been a game winning rally by the Cougies. With no outs in the 7th inning, Allie Dobbs homered off of Tiana Bolin to make the score 4-3. Tiana Bolin would then get two outs before allowing two singles to Andrea Garner and Jasmine Miles. A passed ball moved them both to second and third with two outs. But, like the true competitor she is, Bolin struck out Courtney Zimmerman to close out the game with a winning score of 4-3.

WHAT’S NEXT

FOOTHILL OWLS: After a tiring schedule in Los Altos Hills against the Taft Cougies, the Owls will welcome the Santa Rosa Roscos for a one game series on Tuesday the 20th at 3:00 p.m. PT.

TAFT COUGIES: After splitting the double header against the Foothill Owls, the Cougies travel to Bakersfield to face the Bakersfield Renegade Knights. They will play a two game doubleheader against the team on Tuesday the 20th — one match at 5:00 p.m. PT and the second at 7:00 p.m. PT.