Dos Pueblos softball fell to Rio Mesa by a score of 5-4 in a matchup of Channel League powerhouses on Friday at Okinaka Field in Goleta.
The Chargers (9-9, 7-2 Channel League) overcame an early 4-0 deficit and tied the game in the sixth, but the Spartans (13-6, 8-1 CL) plated a run in the seventh to claim the win and take sole possession of second place in the Channel League.
The two teams end the season series with a split after Dos Pueblos came out on top in an extra-inning matchup on Wednesday.
“We’ve been improving our competitiveness from the beginning of the season to now and we are really peaking competitively right now,” Chargers head coach Mike Gerken said. “We scheduled pretty tough early with the idea that we were going to have to compete all year long.
“Anything can happen, we still have a chance to win league and if we win out there’s a good chance we’ll be in first so let’s hope we win out.”
After a scoreless first inning by Dos Pueblos starter Juliana Brunner and Rio Mesa’s Analia Lopez, the Spartans opened the scoring in the second.
The first Rio Mesa run came around to score on a Dos Pueblos error. One batter later, Rihyana Alvarez executed a perfect safety squeeze bunt to double the lead to 2-0.
Lopez then struck out a pair of batters in a scoreless bottom of the second before slugging a solo homer to lead off the third and put her team up 3-0.
Rio Mesa continued to add to its lead in the top of the fourth, making it 4-0 on an RBI single off the bat of Alvarez.
The Chargers finally got into the hit column in the top of the fourth courtesy of a leadoff infield single by Anastasia Brunner.
Following back-to-back outs, Kaitlyn Ashby came through with an RBI single into right center field to put Dos Pueblos on the board and cut the deficit to 4-1.
“I had no doubts that we were going to come back,” Gerken said. “[Lopez] came out with a vengeance and shut us down early but I just knew it was a matter of time.
“We just needed a base hit here or there and we would break through and that’s what we did.”
Juliana Brunner tossed a scoreless top of the fifth, and the Chargers continued to chip away in the bottom half thanks to another piece of two-out hitting.
With runners on first and second, Kacey Hurley roped a clutch two-run double to the left-center field wall to score Anastasia Brunner and Aubrey Carreno and cut the deficit to 4-3.
That score held into the bottom of the sixth after another scoreless inning from Juliana Brunner, capped off by a double play.
In the bottom of the sixth, Brooklyn Hedricks provided the biggest swing of the day for the Chargers.
The sophomore blasted a game-tying solo homer over the left-field wall to bring the game to 4-4 with one inning to play.
“[Hurley and Hedricks] practice that, both of them are multi-sport athletes and they just compete all year long,” Gerken said of his team’s clutch hits late in the game. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that when they’re out here, they’re still competing and they both showed it.
“Both of those girls are highly competitive, and they’re great to have on our squad.”
However, the Spartans got that run back in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by Jaslene Rios to retake the lead at 5-4.
Dos Pueblos couldn’t push a run across in the bottom half of the seventh, resulting in the one-run loss.
Juliana Brunner, a freshman, went the distance in the circle for the Chargers and has found herself in many high-intensity matchups already in her high school career.
“Juliana is such a good-natured soul that sometimes you wouldn’t understand how competitive she is, but she is perhaps one of the most competitive kids on our team,” Gerken said.
“I’ve got full confidence in putting her in the circle… Juliana is going to give us a chance to win for four more years, which is pretty cool.”
The Chargers will now head into their league bye week next week before a series with first-place Oxnard begins on Monday, April 21.