Dos Pueblos softball dropped its first game of the Righetti Best of the West Tournament on Thursday, falling to Royal by a score of 7-5 in extra innings.
“This was a tough one to take,” Chargers head coach Mike Gerken. “We’ve played so well the last two days and didn’t get a win in either contest. I love the way we battled today.”
The game was scoreless through three frames, and Royal broke the tie in the fourth inning on a two-run single to go up 2-0.
Dos Pueblos immediately responded in the bottom of the fourth when Juliana Brunner delivered a two-run double to tie the game at 2-2 after scoring. Zella Cassidy and Kaitlyn Ashby.
After Brunner handled the first five innings, Ashby took over in the circle and held Royal scoreless in the sixth and seventh. Meanwhile, the Chargers went scoreless to send the game into extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, Royal piled on five runs to take a 7-2 lead and control of the game.
Dos Pueblos did not go away quietly, as Brooklyn Hedricks unloaded a three-run homer over the left-field wall in the bottom half to cut the deficit down to 7-5.
Juliana Brunner knocked her second two-out hit of the day to bring the trying run to the plate, but the Chargers could not complete the comeback.
“Juliana pitched a great game and Kaitlyn did a wonderful job in relief,” Gerken said. “Anna Gray had her best defensive game yet, tracking down multiple fly balls including one that was a sure double.
Both Anastasia and Juliana Brunner went 2-for-4 at the plate while Hedricks went 1-for-3 with her eighth-inning homer.
Faith Baptist 11, Bishop Diego 6
The Cardinals fell to Faith Baptist in a non-league matchup on the road on Thursday.
Faith Baptist jumped on Bishop Diego early with three runs in both the first and second innings to race out to a 6-0 advantage.
After a scoreless third, both teams plated a run in the fourth to make the score 7-1 in favor of Faith Baptist.
The Cardinal offense woke up in the fifth and sixth innings, scoring five unanswered runs to cut the deficit to 7-6. The biggest swings of the offensive burst was an RBI double by Pilar Alvarez and a two-run homer off the bat of Chelsea Hayes.
However, Faith Baptist responded with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull away for the 11-6 win.
“We came to life in the third inning and battled back to bring the score within a run in the sixth,” Bishop Diego head coach MeLinda Matsumoto said. “I am proud of how these girls fought today. We just didn’t string the hits together to manufacture the runs we needed to get the win.”
Madeline Ferries, Penny Carroll and Alvarez each tallied two hits for the Cardinals, who will host Santa Clara on Tuesday.