San Marcos and Dos Pueblos softball competed in the second day of the Righetti High Best of the West Tournament on Friday in Santa Maria.
Both sides dropped back-and-forth contests, with the Royals falling to Buchanan and the Chargers suffering a loss to Thousand Oaks.
Buchanan 10, San Marcos 7
Solana Sandoval led off the game with a solo home run to put the Royals on the board, but Buchanan came back with a run in the bottom half to even the score.
After Sandoval singled in a run in the top of the second to regain the lead, Buchanan plated a trio of runs in the bottom of the third to take a 4-2 advantage.
Reese Large then homered in the top of the fifth to inch closer, but Buchanan got that run right back in the bottom half to make it 5-3 heading into the sixth.
In the sixth, the Royals loaded the bases and Isa Malarkey came through with a go-ahead grand slam over the left-field wall to jump back out in front by a score of 7-5.
However, Buchanan’s offense erupted for five runs in the bottom half and held San Marcos scoreless in the seventh to escape with the victory.
“We’re playing really tough against good competition, and we’re hoping to build on that momentum as we finish up our last two league series and head into playoffs,” San Marcos head coach Emily Dietz said.
Sandoval reached base four times for the Royals, while Malarkey and Lucy Dessert tallied two hits apiece and Jess Vega scored twice. Dessert also tossed all six innings in the circle.
San Marcos will round out the tournament against Huntington Beach on Saturday at 9 a.m.
Thousand Oaks 9, Dos Pueblos 5 (F/6)
The Lancers jumped on Dos Pueblos with two runs in the first and three runs in the third to build an early 5-1 lead.
The Chargers answered back with a run in the third on a homer by Emily Morici and three in the fourth to tie the game at 5-5 on an RBI single by Brooklyn Hedricks and a two-run double off the bat of Julianna Brunner.
However, the Lancers plated two runs in each of the final two frames and kept DP off the board to pull away for the win.
Morici had a strong day at the plate once again, going 3-for-3 with a homer and two runs scored. Meanwhile, Brunner drove in a team-high three runs for Dos Pueblos.
The duo of Morici and Brunner split the pitching duties, allowing six combined earned runs on the day.
“We played a high-quality opponent today with a high-quality pitcher,” Dos Pueblos head coach Mike Gerken said. “The fact that we out-hit them is a testament to our girls, who never back down at the plate.
“We had a few errors that cost us, and in the end, we could not get the key hit when we needed it despite loading the bases in two innings.”