Mesa Softball Gets Crucial Sweep of Glendale, Eye Central AZ in Season Finale
Mesa, AZ - There are plenty of if-so-fact-o's in the ACCAC DII playoff race for the second through fourth spots in the regional tournament that begins next Friday morning. Mesa's mindset is just win and everything else will fall in place.
They took two big steps in that process Tuesday afternoon as they defeated the Glendale Gauchos, 12-0, 11-9.
Mesa started game one with a fury, sending 10 batter's to the plate with the first six batters not only reaching base, but scoring to give Mesa a quick 6-0 lead. The big hit came by way of a triple with the bases loaded by Valerie Macias as she bounced one down the right field line, scoring all three T-Bird runners.
The T-Birds collected four more hits in the second inning, scoring three more runs off four hits.
Emerald Grijalva mowed through the Gaucho lineup, allowing just two hits in five complete innings, collecting 12 ground ball outs with no fly ball outs.
In the fourth inning, Alexis Cirerol had an impressive swing of the bat that sent her second homerun over the center field fence, giving Mesa their 12th and final run.
The T-Birds collected 13 total hits, six going for extra bases with Macias collecting five total RBI's on the day.
Game two saw Mesa get on the board in the bottom of first again, but it was just one run this time as Raychele Hernandez reached on an infield hit to start the game. Andrea Lugo then knocked her in on an infield hit of her own.
In the bottom of the second inning, Sienna Erran scored on a triple by Hernandez with Lindsay Paboucek knocking in Hernandez with a single herself. With the two runs, Mesa went up 3-0.
Glendale though would score their first runs of the afternoon, four in fact, to take a 4-3 lead.
The Gauchos scored another three runs in the top of the fourth to push their lead to 7-3.
Jordan McClellan came into relief of Gaby Lopez in the fourth to help stop the bleeding. Though she allowed two runs in the fourth, she pitched a scoreless fifth which helped the T-Bird offense start back up in the bottom half of the inning.
The T-Birds had their first four batters reach base in the bottom half of the fifth, which Mesa turned into four runs to help regain the lead, 9-7.
Mesa would collect five more hits in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring two runs on a double hit by Rachele Hernandez over the glove of the Glendale right fielder. Hernandez finished game two with three hits and four RBI's.
Emerald Grijalva came in to get the two inning save, allowing just two hits, one earned run and striking out two.
With the two wins, Mesa has now won four straight games. They'll finish the regular season with a double-header down in Coolidge, AZ against Central AZ on Saturday. First pitch at noon.