In the fifth inning, Jessica Varady was in dangerous territory. She was possibly looking at giving up the first run of a 0-0 contest. After two sacrifice plays put a runner at third, Varady took a quick breather off the mound.
She was greeted by catcher Antonia Gentry, who comforted the pitcher by cracking a joke and making light of the situation. When she turned around to face Samantha Fauss, Varady was visually at ease. Immediately after, she got Fauss to fly out to right field. Through the fifth, Varady had four strikeouts, two walks and most notably, no hits. All throughout the game, Varady had gone head-to-head with Sea-hawks’ pitcher Tanya Mutz. Mutz had given up the game’s only hit up until that point. Ashtyn Mullin finally opened up the scoring in their half of the fifth for the Lady Renegades. With two outs, Mullin connected and drove a double down the right field line. The Ohlone bench was fired up as Mullin pulled into second, she marked the Lady Renegades’ first baserunner since the third inning. Paulina Gentry finally put a run on the board when she slipped a grounder past Seahawks’ first baseman Sara Ostlund to score Mullin. She would finish the game 2-2 with one RBI. The 1-0 celebration was obvious for Ohlone, but none were as relieved as Varady. “I felt way more confident than I was in the past innings,” Varady said after the run support in the fifth. Shortstop Ashley Nahale got things rolling once again when she brought in Candace Christiansen with her two-out triple in the sixth. Shelby Tomasello followed Nahale with a double to make it a 3-0 game. Both Nahale and Tomasello finished 1-3 with a run batted in. Varady shut down the Seahawks in the seventh to seal the 3-0 victory, yet no one knew what she had accomplished. While boosting her record to 7-3, Varady did not allow a single hit against the Seahawks. That’s right, she threw a no-hitter, but no one was aware of it, even Ohlone Head Coach Donna Runyon. “It’s very sweet,” said Runyon. “I didn’t even know it until the Cabrillo coach said ‘we got to get a hit to score,’ and then I went, ‘oh maybe it was a no-hitter.” Varady also finished with four strikeouts. At Livermore High, Varady threw two no-hitters, so it is safe to say that for her, it was just another game. “It feels like just another game,” Varady said with a little laugh in her voice. Varady and the Lady Renegades will also host the 18th annual March Madness Classic tournament this weekend. Last year, Ohlone was 4-1 in the tournament. This year, they’ll open up against Porterville College on Saturday, March 12 at 9 a.m.
By Nick Zambrano
Sports editor
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