It was widely known that Mingus Union High School’s softball team’s high-octane offense carried it through the season.
Its five losses in power-point games came by three runs or less, the latest in a 5-2 loss to No. 9 Coconino High School on Saturday, April 28, in the first round of the Conference 4A state tournament. The No. 8 seeded Marauders stranded nine baserunners en route to tying its season-low run output.
“It’s very frustrating for us. Offense is our key, so when we come up with those opportunities we need to capitalize on them, and we didn’t,” Mingus head coach John Brown said. “Those nine runs make a huge difference on that scoreboard.”
During the regular season, Mingus and Coconino pulled out low-scoring victories on the road in Grand Canyon Region play. Although the third matchup came in the first round of the state tournament, the road team prevailed yet again. It was the first time the Marauders have hosted a playoff game on their campus this decade.
One of the key situations for Mingus came in the second inning. Mingus junior third baseman Lacey Saravo doubled to lead off the inning, and junior first baseman Lexi Ough was hit by a pitch. After a strikeout, Mingus senior Bailey Brown popped up a bunt attempt, and senior shortstop Nikki Zielinski popped out to end the inning.
With two runners on, and one out in the fourth, back to back strikeouts ended the Marauders’ threat.
The Marauders’ defense played well, limiting the Panthers [14-6, 7-5 Grand Canyon] to nine hits and turning two double plays.
However, the Coconino defense was that much better. Mingus made hard contact into the outfield, but the catches were made. It got runners into scoring position, but could not bring them home.
Coconino senior center fielder McKenna Gladden saved a run in the fifth inning on a forward diving catch on Mingus junior second baseman Ashley McCracken’s pop fly into shallow center. Earlier in the inning, Panthers senior left fielder Hallie Chiaverini caught a wind-aided fly ball looping toward the fair side of the third baseline. Coconino got out of that second-inning jam.
“If I’m honest, their team was a little better on defense than we were. We hit the ball today, and they made great plays. They had four plays that were just outstanding,” John Brown said. “Offense wins the game. They hit some home runs, but their defense saved them.”
Also helping keep the Marauders’ bats at bay was Panthers junior pitcher Kaitlyn Snopek. Snopek finished with 12 strikeouts. The final one ended the game as McCracken, representing the game-tying run, swung and missed.
Snopek helped her own cause in the top of the seventh inning with a two-run home run to add some insurance, making it 5-2. She gave up six hits, walked three and had a game-high three hits.
“I think we were just being over-aggressive because we really knew we could win this game, so I think that sometimes we got too excited and were swinging at stuff that wasn’t in our zone,” Mingus senior pitcher Kaycee Williams said.
Panthers junior right fielder Ashlyn Hernandez went yard in the third inning to give her team a 3-1 it would never relinquish.
“I should have put [the home run pitches] more on the corners, they were where I wanted them to be, they’re just really good hitters,” Williams said. “Sometimes it just doesn’t go my way.”
Mingus led 1-0 after the first inning. Williams walked before sophomore catcher Jasmine Shults pulled a double into the right field fence to score sophomore courtesy runner Jordyn Cromer. Zielinski’s solo home run to lead off the fifth inning added the second run. Williams gave up nine hits and struck out five with two walks and three hit batters. Shults had a team-high two hits.
Despite finishing runner-up in the region and being eliminated in the first round of the state tournament for a second straight year, Williams believed it was a successful one.
“I’m really proud of how far we’ve come, especially from two years ago to last year. Every year we’ve just gotten better and grown. This year we all really came together, and everybody did their part, and if somebody was down somebody picked them up,” Williams said.
Williams, Zielinski, Bailey Brown, right fielder Sonya Saucedo and Mattie Bollen will all graduate. John Brown said after the game it was his last game at the helm. The team returns five starters who know what it is like to be on a good Mingus softball team.
“We’re going to come out next year and try to do our best again to get farther,” Shults said. “We’re going to miss Kaycee and Nikki and all the rest of the seniors that helped us, but we’re going to come out and try and beat ourselves and get better.”
