The Judson Lady Rockets' path to a region softball title fell by the wayside last weekend, as the Rockets came up against a Southwest Lady Dragons team that featured better hitting and deeper pitching — and took games two and three in the best-of-three series.
After capturing the opener last Thursday, 8-4, for a 1-0 series lead, Judson opened game two with three quick first-inning runs. But they soon found themselves on the receiving end of a Southwest second-inning onslaught that changed the face of the series.
Southwest pitcher Caitlin Terrazas crushed a Michelle Iparraguirre pitch over the left-field fence Friday, igniting a 10-run second inning that catapulted the Dragons to a 14-4 run-rule win that evened the series at 1-1, setting up a winner-take-all game Saturday at the Northside Softball Complex.
Judson coach Theresa Urbanovsky said Southwest found ways to close out their wins, whether it was in the field, on the mound or at the plate.
“They just found a way to finish and get the job done,” she said. “They had to pull their first pitcher in the first inning of the second game, and they beat us. They pulled their (starting) pitcher in the third inning of the third game, and they beat us. They just found ways to get it done.”
In both losses, Judson took 3-0 leads before Southwest responded. In Friday night's game at the Mary Villarreal Softball Complex adjacent to Burbank High School, Terrazas' home run sparked a rally that saw six batters reach base before Judson could record an out. Four walks, a double and a single plated six more runs before two deep flyouts to left ended the inning and Judson found themselves down, 10-3.
Southwest rode that momentum into game three. Again, Judson jumped on top early, scoring runs in each of the first three innings for a 3-0 lead. Southwest scored four times in the home half of the third and fourth innings for a 4-3 lead, but Judson tied it in the top of the fifth, 4-4.
That's when Southwest's big bats went to work. Pitcher Kamerie Vidales, who started both the second and third games but was pulled from the mound in each, hit a three-run homer in the fifth, part of a five-run inning that gave Southwest a 9-4 lead.
Judson did score three runs in the top of the sixth to cut the Southwest lead to 9-7. But the Dragons capped their final at bat in the sixth with five more, including a grand slam from Terrazas, creating the eventual 14-7 final.
In a later inning Saturday, Judson loaded the bases and was about to get a run from a walk “when one of its base runners gets her feet tangled up, and she gets picked off first. It was stuff like that, just so unfortunate for us,” Urbanovsy said.
“What hurt us the worst is when the momentum changed,” Urbanovsky said. “Saturday, we did what we need to do for four innings, and then the momentum went in their favor and they finished.”
jflinn@express-news.net
Source: southwest - Google News http://ift.tt/1onHwVb
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