Roundup: Valencia’s Blair Rune smacks grand slam, Hart’s Sadie Curtis collects four hits
For six innings on Thursday, the West Ranch Wildcats softball team looked like it was going to put an early end to the dominance of the Saugus Centurions.
And then the Centurions flipped a switch.
Trailing 6-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh at Saugus High School, Saugus scored four runs — three on senior Jordan Shepherd’s home run and the tying run on sophomore Olivia Frias’ sacrifice fly — to force extra innings.
After shutting down the Wildcats in the top of the eighth, the Centurions completed their 8-7 comeback victory on junior Amelia Johnson’s walk-off double, keeping the Centurions undefeated in the Foothill League.
“It feels great,” Johnson said. “I mean, I just went up there and I knew I had one job, and that was to help my teammates get the win.”
Junior Savanna Smith had singled to start the eighth inning for Saugus (10-2, 3-0) before advancing to second on a wild pitch.
“She was the main reason we won that game,” Johnson said.
West Ranch (4-6, 1-1) was seeking to upset a Saugus team that had outscored opponents 25-0 through its first two Foothill League games.
The Wildcats started off the game with a bang, scoring three runs in the top of the first. They doubled their lead in the fifth inning with three more runs.
That’s when things started to shift Saugus’ way.
Two runs in the bottom of the fifth saw Saugus start to claw back, and then the momentum completely shifted as junior Taliya Mata was shutting down the West Ranch bats after coming in to pitch in relief in the fifth inning.
Mata allowed two runs to score right after coming in but was nearly perfect from that point on. She struck out three over four innings after sophomore Riley Nelson struck out two and allowed six hits and four runs over four-plus innings.
“Taliya came in in a rough situation, and she struggled finding her pitches early, but when she did, she was executing and she did her job,” said Saugus head coach Kyle Mark. “And same with Riley. Riley had that rough first inning, and then went the next three or four innings, didn’t give up a run. So, that’s how you have to fight back.”
Johnson finished with three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored. Smith also had three hits, including a triple, and scored twice.
Shepherd had just the one hit, but it was a big one, and she knew it.
“I was struggling earlier in the game, so to finally make the adjustment and just help (my team) out, I thought it was really great,” she said.
The Centurions had some trouble early on in Thursday’s game against freshman phenom Gretchen Roen. She kept the Saugus bats mostly quiet before the late-game shift in momentum.
Roen went all eight innings, striking out five while allowing 14 hits.
“She’s a stud,” said West Ranch head coach Mike Merrilees. “She’s an absolute warrior. She’s been battle tested. I’m proud of her. She surprises me every game with something new.”
With three freshmen starting in the infield behind a freshman in the circle, Merrilees said it was impressive to watch his young team compete against a Saugus team that was dominant to start the league campaign and has what Merrilees called a “murderer’s row” lineup.
“I’m very proud of my team,” Merrilees said. “That’s the first thing I said to them is you can’t walk away with your head down at all.
Freshman Torrey Price and sophomore Ava Esparza each had a double for West Ranch as part of two-hit days. Junior Payton Borland had three hits and drove in two runs. Freshman Elaine Shirley drove in three runs, two of them in the first inning to cap off what was a dream start for the Wildcats.
“We wanted to punch first,” Merrilees said. “Going against a team like this, we kind of knew we were going to have to play in the mud and get scrappy, but we had a plan going in. We knew our plan, we executed our plan. I’m proud of how we hit the ball and battle all game.”
The win keeps the Centurions on top of the Foothill League early on, and Johnson said she knows how important the comeback could be as she and her teammates look to capture the league title.
“I know this goes for all of us: We all want to be that top team, and we all want to be the team to beat,” Johnson said.
Saugus will look to keep its unbeaten league start going when the Centurions host Hart on Tuesday. They have a couple of tournament games on Saturday before that one.
West Ranch also has a couple of tournament games on the docket for Saturday before traveling to Valencia on Tuesday.
Here’s what else happened in Thursday’s Foothill League softball action:
Valencia 11, Castaic 0: The Valencia Vikings (5-3, 1-1) hit three home and runs and picked up their first league win on Thursday with an 11-0 shutout over Castaic (7-5, 1-1).
Juniors Madison Stanchfield and Blair Rune and freshman Aubrie Jensen all left the yard in the win over Castaic. Rune’s grand slam in the fifth inning was the big hit that broke the game wide open.
Senior Carly Kearns had three hits for Valencia and struck out eight while allowing just one hit over five innings in the circle.
Lulu Smith had the lone hit for Castaic.
Valencia had a makeup game with Hart scheduled for Friday.
Hart 15, Golden Valley 3: The Hart Hawks (3-3, 1-0) took down the hosting Golden Valley Grizzlies (2-5, 0-2) on Thursday, 15-3, on the back of senior Sadie Curtis’ four-hit day.
Curtis had a triple, four runs scored and three RBIs in Thursday’s win. Junior Bella Marquez added three hits and three runs scored, while senior Stacee Dorman also had three hits and drove in two runs.
Freshman Hannah Cook added two hits and three RBIs and freshman Natalie Williams drove in four runs and scored three times to go along with a double and a triple.
