The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

Julio Lara/Daily Journal Natalie Saucedo races up the first base line after her two-RBI hit in CSM's 10-0 win over Chabot.

For those wondering how long it takes a softball team the caliber of the College of San Mateo to rid itself of the bitter taste of a disappointing defeat, the answer is all of 50 minutes.

Just a couple days after the Bulldogs could not buy a hit in a clutch situation and lost for only the fourth time this season, CSM feasted on Chabot College to the tune of 10 runs on 10 hits in a 10-0 mercy rule win.

The exorcism of sorts happened so quickly it actually felt a bit anticlimactic — before you knew it, Talisa Fiame was throwing to first for the 15th and final out. After the mandatory handshake, the Bulldogs jogged over to their pow wow in left field to address the San Jose City College game one last time. And moments later, CSM head coach Nicole Borg said the events of Tuesday against San Jose City College are now in the past.

“Sometimes, you need to have a game like that (SJCC) too,” Borg said. “We didn’t get a hit when we needed to get a hit. The way I look at it, we’ve had four bad days this year. A lot of other teams have had a lot more bad days. We can get mad about it, we can be upset about, but really ultimately what it comes down to is you have to fix it.”

Thursday’s win versus Chabot was a fine step in that direction. At 31-4, the Bulldogs are still the winningest team in the state and, against the Gladiators, CSM showed just how dominating they can be when everything is clicking.

Amelia Shales took the circle and pretty much breezed through the Chabot lineup. She allowed just four hits over five innings and avoided any legitimate scares from the Gladiator offense. Her win and effectiveness in the circle was a positive sign for the former Hillsdale Knight who’s battling back from an ankle injury.

“She needs to get back on track,” Borg said. “She had a lot of time off, unfortunately, with her injury. She knows we’re going to need both of them (Shales and Michelle Pilster), so to get a quality five innings is good.”

“Today, I felt good in the beginning of the game and really worked on throwing no matter what type of hitters they are, just working on location and hitting my spots and really moving the ball a lot,” Shales said, who added her recovery from the ankle injury is coming along well and that right now, it’s just a matter of racking up innings of experience on field to get back into the early-season groove she was in.

“In the beginning of the season, I was definitely where I wanted to be. I always have to improve and get better but I worked really hard in the off-season to be starting and playing a lot. It was a challenge for sure and I’m still dealing with coming back from it every day. But, I think it’s getting there.”

The CSM offense made it very easy for Shales to focus on executing her pitches — they staked her with three runs in the first inning with the big blow coming off the bat of Mikayla Conlin who blasted her fourth home run of the year over the right centerfield wall to make it 3-0.

“We were hitting slower pitching, so, being patient and getting a pitch to hit, I think we did a fairly decent job of that today,” Borg said. “Gap shots are great.”

CSM got another gap shot in the second off the bat of Jenn Davidson that translated into two more runs when Katie Tam singled in a pair with a single.

Natalie Saucedo took advantage of an RBI situation in the third when her double to right centerfield brought home Fiame and Conlin to make it 7-0.

CSM put the game away in the fourth with Kristin Petrini (single), Fiame (sacrifice fly) and Conlin (single) picked up RBIs in consecutive at-bats.

“Today, Chabot did a good job of trying to go out and give us their best shot,” Borg said. “Unfortunately, the talent level maybe isn’t there this year. But I tell the girls, you win the games you’re supposed to win. Our expectation is to win every game.”

Winning out isn’t necessarily obligatory for the Bulldogs to repeat as division champions — CSM owns a two-game lead in the standings with five to play and still controls its own destiny. But if you’re Borg and CSM, the lead isn’t something they’re banking on.

“Absolutely there’s pressure (to keep winning),” Borg said. “We don’t want to back into a title, we want to win with authority. I think that’s the key. We want to prove that we deserve it. And that’s what we’re going for.”

“We’re still strengthening our mental game,” Shales said. “I think that’s important for us because that has been a weakness — coming back when we’re behind in games has been a challenge for us. So, I think just mentally, we have to get ourselves in game mode and practice hard so we can be mentally prepared for the future and more challenging games because they’re definitely going to get more challenging. So, continuing to fight and keep ourselves up and have confidence that we’re going to come through.”