On a windy afternoon, Mingus Union High School battled with Combs High School through the first four innings before a 10-run fifth ended the Marauders’ season debut in a 15-5 win on Thursday, Feb. 22.
The Marauders [1-0] trailed twice before the decisive inning in which they scored seven runs with two outs.
“I thought it went well, our bats came alive like we kind of hoped they would. Scoring 15 runs is never a bad thing,” Mingus head coach John Brown said. “It was a little tight there for a while, but these girls, they don’t panic. They play all the time, so they came back around and finished the game.”
The visiting Coyotes [0-1] turned a leadoff double to open the game into a 1-0 lead on an unearned run after an error at first base by sophomore first baseman Jordyn Cromer, filling in for junior Lexi Ough. Mingus senior ace Kaycee Williams, throwing more aggressively and with higher velocity than last season, gave up four more hits albeit two leaving the park. She went the distance in the circle, giving up four earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
“I think we had a little bit of nerves with the girl that played at first base today, but she got it worked out, so we gave up that unearned run and then we gave up a couple long balls,” John Brown said. “The wind, it helped us, and it helped them.”
The second home run, a two-out, two-run, gave Combs its final lead at 5-4 in the fourth inning. Williams immediately made up for it in the bottom half of the frame, sending a solo shot over to knot the score.
“I feel like I’ve improved a lot since last year. I worked really hard over the summer because I knew I was going to come in as the ace pitcher this year,” Williams said. “I definitely felt like I needed to do something to get the run back and just to help my team out.”
Mingus’ defense locked down to retire all three Coyotes batters in the top of the fifth before the bats came live. The Marauders, who would bat through the lineup, got the rally going by getting into a bases loaded, zero outs situation.
Junior second baseman Ashley McCracken hit a single, sophomore first baseman Cromer laid down a bunt single and senior right fielder Sonya Saucedo reached on an error. Then senior shortstop Nikki Zielinski hit a two-run double — Saucedo was thrown out at home trying to score from first — before senior left fielder Bailey Brown drove Zielinski in with an RBI single.
“The girls hit the ball pretty well. We had a couple bloops that went our way that hit the ground, but other than that they hit the ball hard, and they were really aggressive on the bases and kind of took this team by surprise, which is what we do best,” John Brown said. “I thought all of it really played well, and it wound up scoring us 15 runs.”
After Bailey Brown was caught stealing second base for the second out, the Marauders pumped in the remaining seven runs on just three hits. Mingus sophomore catcher Jasmine Shults’ home run scored the first two, and a combination of three Coyotes errors and two walks ended it. The final blow came on Zielinski’s ground ball that forced a throwing error to allow the 14th and 15th runs to score.
Williams and Shults led with three hits each, and the pair along with Zielinski had two RBI as well. Five Marauders scored two runs.
Up Next
Mingus will play a home-and-home series with Prescott High School to open Grand Canyon Region play. The first is at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, at home before traveling for a 4 p.m. start on Thursday, March 8.
