The Park University Gilbert softball team completed its series with Benedictine Mesa by splitting a double header this afternoon at Mesa Community College in Mesa, Ariz. The Bucs won game one 4-1 and dropped game two 13-6. Park won the series 3-1 having swept the double header yesterday. The Bucs are now 11-23 on the season overall and 6-6 in Cal Pac play.
Game 1- Park Gilbert 4, Benedictine Mesa 1
The Buccaneers used a four-run first and strong pitching to beat the Redhawks in game one of the double header.
All of the Bucs scoring took place in the first off of Redhawk starter Paige Salazar who held the Bucs to two runs over seven innings yesterday. Ledezma Romero led off with a single. Noelle Gumm then hit a ground ball to second but the flip to the shortstop covering second was dropped and Romero moved to third in the error. Gumm then stole second to put to runners in scoring position. Sorcha Walker singled to right to score Romero with the first run. Carolina Olivas jumped on the first pitch she saw and drove it to left field for a base hit to score another. After a strikeout, Danielle Farinas then drove a single to center to score Walker.
Benedictine would make a pitching change at this point and the new hurler would be greeted by Christian Smith with a smash right back up the middle which deflected off the pitchers glove for a base hit and allowed the fourth run to cross. All told, the Bucs had five hits in the innings and were helped by the error which led to only one of those runs being earned.
The Bucs would only amass three more hits the remainder of the game so the hopes for a win would fall on the pitching staff. Senior Christian Smith (3-5) got the call on senior day and she was sharp, throwing 5.1 innings, allowing only one run on six hits with six strikeouts. Abril Nerey who picked up both wins yesterday, threw the final 1.2 innings to pick up her second save of the season.
Gumm and Walker each had two hits to lead the Bucs.
Game 2 – Benedictine Mesa 13, Park Gilbert 6
A back and forth contest ended with the Bucs on the losing end of 13-6 final score as they were unable to pull off the sweep of the Redhawks.
BENU opened the scoring against Nerey who got the start after closing out the previous contest with a bloop single and a blast, a two-run homer off the bat of Amanda Clack. They would then put an unearned run on the board in the second.
Park would respond with another five-hit, four run inning all with two outs. With Romero at third, The Bucs would string together four consecutive hits, the big blows were back-to-back two-run doubles by Taylor Mount and Walker which chased BENU starter Maggie Tufnell who had pitched all 10 innings against the Bucs yesterday.
The Buccos would tack two more on in the third and had to feel pretty good about their chances with Nerey on the mound who had only allowed three earned runs (9 total) in previous seven appearances, spanning 47 innings.
Nerey did not allow any more earned runs, but a critical error which would have gotten the Bucs out of an inning led to three unearned runs for the Redhawks, tied the game and forced Nerey out of the circle in favor of Darby.
BENU took advantage of a bout of wildness from the freshman as she walked the first two hitters in the inning. They were advanced on a sacrifice bunt and then Clack was given the unintentional intentional walk to load the bases. The Bucs were able to get a force out at the plate as BENU tried a squeeze play, but with two outs, a pair of two-run singles, a walk and a passed ball all within three at bats resulted in five runs scoring.
At this point, the Redhawks had brought their ace Salazar back into the game to pitch and the Bucs could not get to her as they did in the first game. She held the Buc bats in check over the final 4.2 innings to preserve the lead and secure the victory for the Redhawks.
Darby (0-5) takes the loss, and Salazar (7-7) gets the win. Olivas was the only Buc hitter with a multi-hit game as she went 2-4 with two runs scored. Mount and Cueva each had two RBI.
The Bucs now hit the road for their next eight games as they make a push for the postseason tournament in the Cal Pac. The Bucs currently sit in a tie for third place with Simpson, one of the road contests they have coming up in two weeks.
The next opponent for Park is a trip to San Diego to take on Saint Katherine who is 3-12 in conference play so far. The games are slated for Friday April 12-13 with the Friday games at 3 and 5 p.m. and the Saturday contests at 1-3.
