Following a week of dreary weather, a nice-sized crowd took advantage of a sunny afternoon on Saturday, March 27 to watch Mingus’ softball team host Williams. The Marauders fans left happy, with Mingus winning 10-0 in a game called after five innings. All fans in attendance were treated to something special — a no-hitter.
Marauders pitcher Alexis Ayersman was dominant. Only a throwing error from Ayersman on a Vikings bunt attempt in the fifth inning prevented her from throwing a perfect game. Furthermore, Ayersman rarely even put her defense to the test, with 11 of the 15 outs she recorded coming by way of the strikeout.
“She did amazing,” Mingus sophomore catcher Sydnee Stapleton said. “She was perfect, hitting all of her spots. She made it easy on me. I didn’t have to work that hard back there today.”
Ayersman agreed on how well she threw, but also found time to compliment her battery mate.
“I think I threw really good,” Ayersman said. “I felt accurate and Sydnee was really great behind the plate, helping me out a lot.”
As dominant as Ayersman was on the mound, it was only a part of the recipe for the Marauders’ success on Saturday. The Mingus bats also came through with some timely hits. Junior shortstop Marissa Vocca put the Marauders up 1-0 with an RBI groundout in the first inning. Two innings later, Mingus opened it up in a big way.
With one out, junior left fielder Mackenzie Figy drew a walk. After Ayersman reached on an error and Vocca walked, the bases were loaded. Williams pitcher senior Sydnee Mortensen seemed primed to get out of the jam when she struck out Mingus senior third baseman Mallorie Copeland, but the Marauders had other ideas.
Stapleton ripped a single up the middle which scored Figy and Ayersman — Vocca also scored when center fielder Kai Mortensen misplayed the ball. After sophomore right fielder Cameron Jones was hit by a pitch, junior first baseman McKell Gordon drove in Vocca with an RBI double. She later scored on an RBI double from junior second baseman Ella Behlow. That put Mingus up 7-0, which gave Ayersman all the cushion that she would need and then some.
“That hit up the middle really opened it up,” Marauders coach John Brown said. “We scored three runs off of that and took some wind out of their sails. That helped us a lot and definitely pushed wind into our sails. After that they kind of took off and did what they needed to do.”
After Mingus added another run in the fourth inning, two questions lingered as the game headed to the fifth. One, would Ayersman complete a perfect game? Two, would the Marauders open up a 10-run lead before the seventh to send everyone home early? While Ayersman had to “settle” for a no-hitter, the Marauders offense did what it had to do to end the game two innings early.
Gordon led off the bottom of the fifth with her second home run of the season to put Mingus up 9-0. Senior designated hitter Kaylee Watson followed that up with a single. Then an infield single from Behlow got better for the Marauders when the throw to first was wild. That brought Watson around the diamond to score and when she touched home safely, the game was over.
“We did great,” Stapleton said. Our energy was up the whole entire time. We didn’t lay down once. We didn’t give the team a chance to show us anything that they can do.”
While Williams is a 1A school, the dominant win was no less impressive for the 4A Marauders. The Vikings entered the game at 2-0 with wins of 24-0 and 21-0 to their credit.
“They’re a small school but they’re well coached,” Brown said. “They fight, they have good pitching and a good pitching coach. We expected a good game out of them and we needed that. I thought we played really well.”
Mingus was in action with a 3:45 p.m. road game against an undefeated Flagstaff team on Tuesday, March 30. The Marauders won the battle of unbeatens 3-0.
The two teams will meet again on Thursday, April 1 at 3:45 p.m. at Mingus.
The Marauders entered the season as a genuine state championship contender and have spent the first six games showing why. The Marauders are not only 6-0 but have been overpowering in most of those efforts. Until the 3-0 won over Flagstaff, a 7-2 win over Mohave in the second game of a double-header on Thursday, March 25 was Mingus’ only single-digit win. Other than those two, the 10-0 win over Williams was actually the closest game of the season for the Marauders.
