Warriors softball team goes 1-3 in season-opening tourney

Fallbrook High School's softball team opened its 2016 season with four Monte Vista Classic tournament games and posted a 1-3 record.

“All of those games were close,” said Fallbrook coach Ken Pilbin. “All were quality games.”

Pilbin was Fallbrook's varsity assistant coach in 2015 and this is his first season as the head coach. Many of his players are also new in their roles.

“We've got only four returners from last year, three seniors and a junior,” said Pilbin. “The rest of the team was on the junior varsity.”

Not all of the new players were on last year's junior varsity squad as this year's 14-girl varsity roster includes four freshmen. The three returning seniors are the only 12th-graders on the team.

“We've got a young team that we're working with,” said Pilbin.

Fallbrook opened its season by traveling to Serra for a March 3 tournament game against Serra. A Fallbrook run in the top of the seventh tied the score at 6-6, but the Conquistadors scored in the bottom of the inning for a 7-6 victory.

Sweetwater was Fallbrook's opponent for a March 4 home game. The Warriors scored all seven of their runs in the third inning, overcoming a 2-0 deficit to post a 7-4 victory.

Horizon Christian pitcher Maddie Jacobs held Fallbrook to one hit in the Panthers' 3-1 victory March 10 in Fallbrook. On March 11, the Warriors made the trip to El Centro for a game with Central Union High School, which overcame a 6-3 deficit with three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth for an 8-6 victory.

“We've played a lot of close ones,” Pilbin said. “We're hoping to win those close ones looking forward.”