Carissa Youngblood walked up to the plate in the seventh inning with her team down 4-1 to Salpointe and teammate Christina Powers was standing on third base and Danielle Stensby was at first with one out.

“I just knew I had to get it done,” Youngblood. “We had a chance.”

Youngblood sent a 1-2 pitch to centerfield to score Powers and the go-ahead run was now at the plate…

Nicole Rascon started things off for Salpointe, reaching on a slap to the right side with one out and then stealing second base on the next pitch.

Kristi Gragg followed with a hit to short right field to move Rascon to third base.

Paige Peterson followed with a sacrifice fly to center to score Rascon. That run held up for a few innings until Buena tied it in the top of the fourth inning although both teams had their chances before that.

Salpointe had a runner on in the second inning but Stensby turned a double play with first baseman

Kaitlin Wilson to erase the threat.

Buena had two on in the first inning after Youngblood singled and Shondra Cordova was walked by Peterson but Peterson induced a full-count ground out to end the inning.

Buena had Liberty Johnson on in the second inning with no outs but Salpointe catcher Heather Schulz threw her out on a steal attempt.

Designated Player Katie Morgan and leadoff batter Gemma Contreras reached in the bottom of the third inning with no outs but, after Rascon sacrificed them over, Youngblood pulled out of the threat with back to back 6-3 groundouts.

Buena finally broke through in the fourth inning as Wilson reached on an error with one out and then stole second base. Peterson recorded a strikeout but then gave up a hit to pinch hitter Ashleigh Loucks – moving Wilson to third base.

Kayla Hanson reentered the game to run for Loucks and then took off for second base. The pickoff attempt was not on target, allowing Wilson to score on the errant throw to tie the game.

Jasmine Rodriguez followed with a walk. With two on and two outs Peterson was able to get another ground ball but it proved costly beyond the scoreboard as short stop Miraya Montiel recorded an unassisted tag on Hanson who took off for third base and was called for excessive conduct and was removed from the game.

The officiating crew felt there was excessive contact beyond the tag by Montiel and her ejection will cost her another game suspension according to AIA rules.

Buena threatened again in the fifth inning As Stensby walked with one out and stole second base. After another out was recorded, Cordova reached on an error. But, with Stensby standing at third base,

Peterson got another ground ball to end the inning.

Schulz started the bottom of the fifth with a double down the left field line. Abriel Hernandez came in to run for her. Morgan hit a line drive to Youngblood that was caught and it looked like she was able to double off the speedy Hernandez but the umpire called Morgan for making contact with the ball out of the box for a dead-ball out.

The call worked in Salpointe’s favor as Contreras hit a full-count ball over the left fielder’s head to score Hernandez. There was some controversy as the whether Hernandez touched home on the play.

“I watched to make sure the outfielder didn’t catch the ball and I knew I was going home when it fell to the ground,” Hernandez said. Did she touch home plate? “Yeah!”

Contreras had been struggling this year at the plate and her double was a redemption of sorts. “I just wasn’t doing it but I’ve worked hard on it,” she said.

“I saw them playing up on me and I knew I had to hit over their heads. I got a hold of one.”

Peterson shut down Buena in order in the sixth inning with two strike outs.

Peterson hit the first pitch of the bottom of the sixth to left field, advancing to second base on an error.

A wild pitch placed her at third base and then Melissa Mares brought her in on a short singe to right. Mares scored two outs later on a fielding error.

Salpointe was now up 4-1 but Buena had a chance with Stensby at second base and Youngblood standing at first with one out in the seventh inning.

Peterson was sick and could barely talk and was not sure of the outcome. “It was 50-50 for me,” she said. “I knew we had shot. I felt nervous and sick.”

She let her arm do the talking as she was able to get the last two Buena batters to pop up in the infield to end the game.

NOTES:

University of Arizona assistant and pitching coach Teresa Wilson was in attendance but was not able to say who she was looking at per NCAA rules. There were quite a few Division I prospects on the field but only a couple worthy of PAC-10 consideration.

Christy Collins coached Salpointe as Rockie Guevara was out of town on school business. Guevara replaced Ted Farhat a few weeks ago.

Salpointe plays the loser of Xavier and Skyline on Thursday at Marcos de Niza High School at 4 pm.

SLIDESHOW:

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