A number of errors shifted the tide of the Mingus Union High School softball team’s 12-0 Arizona Interscholastic Association 4A State Championship first round loss at Salpointe Catholic High School on Saturday, April 29.
The No. 12-seeded Marauders [12-6, 9-3 Grand Canyon] were down 1-0 before giving up five-run fourth and six-run fifth innings to lose 12-0 in run-rule fashion.
“It was a good game for about four innings,” Mingus head coach John Brown said. “Then we just kind of let the wheels fall off. We made four errors that they took advantage of and all of a sudden we got run ruled.”
Heading into the game, Brown was confident in his team’s ability to get hits against No. 5 Salpointe Catholic, but ended up collecting just two.
The host Lancers got one run across in the second inning. A single and fielder’s choice saw the runner get into scoring position before another base hit sent her home.
Mingus senior pitcher Krista Earl got out of a third-inning jam. Earl gave up two singles and hit a batter, but a strikeout closed it out without any damage done.
But Salpointe Catholic would blow things open in their next at bat.
Its leadoff batter junior Giselle Munoz singled and stole second and third bases. A walk put a runner at first, and a double steal plated Munoz. Three singles and an error completed Salpointe Catholic’s offensive outburst.
After the Marauders’ second consecutive inning without a baserunner, the Lancers ended the game in walk off fashion.
Mingus junior pitcher Kaycee Williams hit the first batter. After a strikeout, an error granted the third batter a place on the base paths.
“They were errors in very common positions that cost us the game,” Brown said.
Four consecutive hits, the last of which a three-run home run, sentenced the game.
Marauders sophomores Maddie Bejarano and Delaney Hartnett got the hits for the visitors, Bejarano’s being a game-opening double. Hartnett singled in the third inning.
Mingus never had more than one baserunner in a given inning, with Earl drawing a walk in the second frame.
Earl pitched 3 1/3 innings, giving up four earned runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and one walk. Williams finished the game, giving up five earned runs on four hits with one strikeout and zero walks.
The team graduates five seniors in Earl, Maliah Zillmer, Morgan Mabery, Anissa Zorillo and Caitlynn Schilling.
