On Feb. 26th, the Mesa Olympians softball team lost a back n forth game against Palomar College, 7-6 that went into extra innings as the sun faded away. There were fireworks early on as both teams combined for 4 home runs and 8 runs in just 3 innings as Palomar took an early lead 5-3.
In the 1st inning, the game started off hot as Palomar’s Lauren Doepping hit a two run homerun to draw first blood, as Palomar got ahead early with a 2-0 lead. That lead was short lived, as Itzel Soto hit a missile of a home run to cut the lead in half at 2-1, to be followed up by her teammate Alexis Serrano as she hit a towering shot for a two run homerun to take the lead 3-2.
That lead was also short lived as Palomar College tied up the game 3-3 after Kailey Dain hit an RBI double to left center. Palomar poured it on again on Mesa to extend the lead to 5-3, after Gisele Gonlazez hit a towering shot to left field to hit a two run home run and really put the pressure on Mesa to respond back.
In the fourth inning, with runners on 2nd and 3rd base, Palomar pitcher Kiara Flavani delivered a drop ball that dropped a little too much. The ball got away from Palomar catcher Dominique Garcia as Mesa’s Madelyn Egan scored to cut the lead to 1 on a wild pitch, to make the score 5-4.
With Mesa’s pitcher Olivia Anderson pitching her heart out, she was able to limit the damage after the 3rd inning with shutting down Palomar offense in the 4th inning, and giving up the rock to her teammate Sophia Sanchez, who was able to stop Palomar’s rally in the 5th inning leaving the score 5-4 for Mesa to deliver more runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Soto, who had a big game, was able to lead off the inning with a single to left field, she was later followed by her teammate Janiece Blackman who took one for the team and was hit by a pitch to advance and have runners on 1st and 2nd. After advancing to 3rd and 2nd base on a groundout, Serrano was able to drive in the game tying run on a double to left field, scoring in Soto and advancing Blackman to 3rd base.
The very next at bat, Mesa’s Madelyn Egan grounded out to third base on a hard hit. With a split decision to make, Blackman ran to home plate looking to take the lead but was gunned down by first baseman Alexis Huey on a bang-bang play at home, so the game remained tied.
The 6th inning did not deliver any action, it was the first inning without any runs by any team but it set up the stage for a wild 7th inning.
The 7th inning started off with a double by Palomar’s Gonzales, who was moved over to third base by a first pitch single by Kristina Deal. So with runners on the corners it set up the stage for Palomar’s Ava Alvarez, who was able to come up clutch and deliver a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in her teammate Gonzales for the 6-5 lead over Mesa heading into the bottom of the 7th inning.
Soto leads off the last inning for Mesa as she steps up to bat and the first pitch she sees crushes it to the left field corner to get herself a lead off double. She was quickly running because the very next at bat fellow teammate Blackman, hit a double of her own to tie up the game and bring Soto home.
After a quick strikeout, Serrano was able to draw a walk to make it 2nd and 1st to be followed up by Egan with a single to left to load the bases, it was the perfect opportunity for Mesa to walk it off. Haily white was in a pickle of a spot and was able to calm down the momentum for a moment when she struck out Marissa Lieras.
After being taken out in the 5th inning, Flavani was put in the game again. This time with bases loaded 2 out’s and facing a dangerous hitter in Anabella Heguy but was able to make her groundout to shortstop to send the game to extra innings and keep the game tied at 6-6.
To start off extra innings Huey hit a double to center field to start off the inning strong for Palomar. Her counterpart Taylor Armstrong hit the ball to 2nd base and threw the gap which led the throw being a little off which caused Mesa’s Heguy to drop the ball for an error, runners on 1st and 2nd.
In a tough spot Sanchez was able to produce two groundballs to keep both runners at 1st and 2nd but the job was not finished, she had one last challenge in Palomar’s 2nd baseman Deal. In a 2-2 count looking for the lead, Deal was able to drive in the game tying run and bring in pinch runner Emily Wright home, to take the lead 7-6 heading into what was possibly the last inning no matter what due to low visibility because of the sun setting.
Flavanni, it was up to her to close out the game. Facing some of the top hitters for Mesa, she was dealt all the pressure. AnaSophia Zeigler, lead off the inning for Mesa, she got a good pitch to handle but hit a fly ball to center that was sent to the edge of the fence for out number 1. Anderson came up to bat, and also had a great pitch to hit but could not capitalize as she too hit a high fly ball to left field but nothing out number 2.
With Soto coming up, she’s been the best hitter all season for the Olympians and in this game going 3-4 with a Single, Double and Homerun, just a triple shy of hitting the cycle, it was going to be the toughest at bat for Flavanni. With the sun setting down and the game on the line, Flavanni was able to dig deep and strike out Mesa’s best hitter in Soto to end the game in the bottom of the 8th inning, winning it for Palomar, 7-6.
After a tough loss but a great game by Mesa, assistant coach Cris Ponce had a couple things to say on his team’s performance. “The team’s performance was outstanding, we fought all the way to the end, it was just a good softball game.” Coach Ponce on the team’s performance.
In a close game like this, runs are essential and opportunities must be taken advantage of when they present themselves. In a game when Mesa had traffic all game long, leaving runners in scoring position was a curse and a big factor in the loss, coach Ponce addresses this factor. “I think you take advantage of the opportunities when they present themselves so, runners in scoring position you always find ways to do better.” Coach Ponce on the main factor for Mesa’s loss.
A dramatic finish and a dramatic game, Palomar College takes the first of 3 matchups against Mesa Olympians 7-6 in extra innings. These two great teams will face off again, on March 17th.
