Hawks get first win

Knight (1-2, 1-2) had to cancel a preseason game because it didn’t have a coach yet and started the season with back-to-back losses to defending league co-champion Highland last week.

“We played very well,” said Knight sophomore Katelyn Harrington, a second-year varsity player. “I think we work together as a team and we really clicked.

“It’s been pretty good. I think he’s helped us out a lot. I feel like we’re also helping him and leading him in a good direction and I feel it’s more of a family than a team. I think because we have some more experienced players, they’re able to help the less experienced and I think we’re all growing together.”

Paolo, the Knight High boys soccer coach, said the Hawks might have had to cancel its season without a coach.

“The hitting is getting better. We’ve had it from Day 1,” Paolo said. “I was really surprised, because we just met the deadline coming in. It’s all coming together now. The hitting is coming together with the defense, so they really feel comfortable out there. They really feel comfortable.

“I think mostly its the girls, the experience they have from outside, quite a few of them as a matter of fact that are active outside, so all they needed as they got back in was to be with the new teammates and there are quite a few ones that they haven’t played with, because we have quite a few JVs from last year and a few that this is their last year. It was just a matter of getting in here and getting together with the new teammates. That’s why most of the problems we had was on defense. We’ve been good on offense from Day 1. I tried to calm them down today. I don’t want to embarrass anybody. It was just a matter of getting it together.”

Paolo said he was going to work as a softball umpire this season. He has umpired for seven years. He said he has coached youth baseball, but never softball.

Paolo said he found an assistant coach half an hour before the game on Thursday.

“I think we’re doing really good,” said Knight senior Jizelle Sigaran, a first-year varsity player. “We came back a lot, a lot. Today I saw it, we came back a lot.

“Honestly, I think we all motivate each other. He motivates us to do stuff.”

Knight finished with 14 hits against Palmdale, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on five hits.

The first five Hawks that went to the plate eventually scored.

Sigaran and sophomore Angeline Gutierrez both hit RBI singles in the first and freshman starting catcher Desiree Ahumada hit a two-run single.

Knight opened up the lead with eight runs in the second inning, on another five hits.

Knight junior Marissa Perdomo hit an RBI single, Gutierrez hit a two-run single and Sigaran was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in a run.

“I think we did really good,” Sigaran said. “We came back a lot.”

The Hawks scored another two runs in the third, on an RBI double by Perdomo, who later scored on a wild pitch, before Knight substituted many of its reserve players in the fourth inning.

The lineup of mostly reserve players scored seven runs in the fourth.

Knight freshman Emily Ruelas hit a two-run double, Ahumada hit an RBI single and junior starting shortstop Serena Rodriguez hit a two-run single.

“It shows us that we can do it and we can work as a team,” Harrington said.

Serena Rodriguez was 2-for-2, as was Ahumada, and Perdomo and Angeline Gutierrez were both 2-for-3 for the Hawks.

Starting pitcher Gutierrez threw three shutout innings for the Hawks, striking out two and giving up one hit and one walk.

Knight junior Jahaira Castillo threw two shutout innings of relief, striking out two and giving up one walk and no hits.

Sigaran said she was confident the Hawks were going to have a season.

“I think we knew that there was going to be a season, because we got a coach,” Sigaran said. “It’s been good. We practiced hard. We practiced a lot.”

Harrington had her doubts the Hawks would have a season.

“It was very close to us not having one,” Harrington said of the season. “I was playing baseball, because I didn’t think we were going to have a season. The Thursday right before we had our first game, we were able to figure out that he was our coach and we had our first practice on Saturday.”

Harrington said the 16-4 and 17-5 losses to Highland aren’t as bad considering the trouble the Hawks had to start the season off the field.

“Honestly we didn’t do too bad, especially it being Highland in our first game,” Harrington said. “I think we’re just being open with each other and being able to give each other tips and stuff. Criticize each other without bringing each other down.”

The Falcons fall to 1-8 overall and 0-3 in league.

Palmdale senior leadoff batter Liliana Villegas hit a two-out double in the third inning for the Falcons’ lone hit. Palmdale sophomore Elsbeth Torres drew two walks.

“We did not play our best today,” Palmdale coach Monica Dopson said. “They are capable of so much more. I know they can. I have faith in them.

“It was 100 percent mental. You have to get them to reflect on what they were not successful with that they know they can fix. They have to apply their training and that’s what’s going to happen. Trust their training and apply their training, because when they do that, they are successful. Win or lose they are still successful if they do that.”

The two teams will play at Palmdale High today, a makeup for a game originally scheduled for Tuesday that was rained out.

Paolo thought Thursday’s game would have to be played on the junior varsity field, because the varsity field was flooded, but he said hours of work helped make the field playable.

“While the girls were hitting in the batting cage, I was here taking water in, scuba diving, getting all the water out for the maintenance to come out today and fix it,” Paolo said. “I didn’t know if they would be able to. I was surprised it dried out. I was ready to play on the JV field today.”

The Golden League has its Spring Break next week.

“We need it,” Paolo said of Spring Break. “We can get quite a few practices in. Hopefully one of the games we couldn’t play in the preseason due to no team, hopefully he can give us a game back, but mostly we need to practice, because we’re coming back against Quartz Hill.”

Palmdale will hold remote workouts for its players and Dopson has made it a fun contest for the Falcons, as the first player to send in video of her completed workouts, gets a gift card, as does the second player to send in the video. Dopson said there is also a prize for the funniest video.

She said she started doing the remote workouts during COVID.

Dopson said the Falcons had one player choose not to play this season due to the later start to school in the morning, instead choosing to focus solely on academics.