The West Valley softball team opened the 2019 season Friday with a pair of wins - 13-2 over Mendocino in the opener, and a stirring 9-8 comeback over Taft. 

Game One

It didn't take long for the West Valley softball team to get its offense rolling in the 2019 season opener against Mendocino Friday afternoon in Saratoga. Back-to-back doubles from Alexis Palmon and Emma Edmonson and an Ava Gonzales three-run homer gave the Vikings a 4-0 first inning lead they never relinquished in a 13-2 five-inning win over the Eagles. Gonzales finished the day 3-4 with six RBI and the win in the circle, giving up four hits and striking out six in five innings. Edmonson was 3-3 with a pair of doubles and an RBI, and Palmon went 3-3. West Valley sent 12 batters to the plate in the third inning, scoring eight runs, all with two outs.

Game Two

Mya Galindo's two-out bloop single over third base drove in Sierra Hillman with the winning run to cap the West Valley softball team's thrilling 9-8 comeback win over Taft Friday afternoon in Saratoga. The Vikings were down 8-4 heading to the sixth inning, but tied it up on singles by Ava Gonzales, Hillman and Galindo, a pair of Taft errors and a Mari Matos two-run sacrifice fly to center. Matos shut the Cougars down in the top of the seventh with a 6-3 putout and an inning-ending, unassisted double play to set the stage for the Hillman/Galindo heroics in the final stanza. Earlier, Gonzales crushed a two-run homer to left in the fourth, driving in Emma Edmonson, who had roped a lead-off double. Matos brought the Vikings to within 6-4 in the fifth with a first-pitch HR to the scoreboard at center. Galindo, Gonzales, Hillman and Carinne Peterson had two hits each to lead WVC's 12-hit attack. Alexis Palmon picked up the win in the circle, giving up two hits in 3 2/3 innings of work in refilled of starter Gonzales.