I-A SOFTBALL: Crusaders break through against Sierra Vista’s Watkins, take title

It took 11 innings for Faith Lutheran’s softball team to finally solve Sierra Vista ace Kalei Watkins Saturday in the Division I-A Southern League tournament.

But once the Crusaders broke through in the first game, they were unstoppable in the finale.

After winning the first game by scoring three runs in the 11th to upend the top-seeded Mountain Lions 4-1 and force a second game, the host Crusaders erupted for seven runs in the first inning and cruised to a 15-3 win in the second game to take the tournament title.

Both teams will head to the Division I-A state championship tournament, which starts Thursday at Bishop Gorman.

Faith Lutheran (31-9) was 0-3 in against Sierra Vista (17-9) this season, and faced the task of having to defeat the Mountain Lions in back-to-back games Saturday to win the championship.

But after edging Sierra Vista in the two-and-a-half hour, 11-inning pitcher’s duel in Saturday’s opener, Crusaders shortstop Mosie Foley provided the early knockout blow in the first inning of the second game.

Foley pounded a three-run home run over the left-field fence to erase Sierra Vista’s 2-0 lead, and the Crusaders never trailed again.

Foley added a solo shot in the second, and finished the game 3-for-3 with four RBIs.

“We were just pumped and ready and come out and play,” Foley said. “As soon as we won the first game we were ready to go right away.”

Samantha Jack, Makena Martin and Vanessa Valdez all added run-scoring singles after Foley’s blast to push Faith Lutheran’s lead to 7-2. That spelled the end of the day for Watkins, who was pulled after the inning, having pitched 12 innings in the two games.

Faith Lutheran coach John Chilman — whose team pulled out an 11-inning win Friday just make it to Saturday — said finally getting to Watkins at the end of the long opening game boosted the team’s morale.

“Our players were confident that if we could get through the first game, the second game was ours. It looked like Sierra Vista was pretty tired out,” Chilman said. “(Watkins) is just a great pitcher. I think she is the best player in Division I-A. If we had to play the second game tomorrow, it probably would have been another dogfight like the first one.

“But we strung the hits together, and then Mosie swung the bat. Her two home runs were back breakers. And sending 12 to the plate in the first inning and nine in the second, that took the wind out of their sails.”

Jack finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs, including a two-run triple in the fourth.

Martin scattered six hits and struck out four to pick up the victory for Faith Lutheran

In the first game, Foley’s single in the top of the 11th broke a 1-1 tie. Martin and Valdez each added an RBI single in the inning.

Watkins had scattered nine hits and allowed just the one run while striking out 12 and walking only one through in the first 10 innings.

“She (Watkins) finally got tired so we could put the bat on the ball,” Chilman said. “We talked to our team two innings earlier, and told them to stop getting frustrated, she’s getting tired.

“And she was frustrating us. But when you have a veteran team like ours, they rise to the occasion.”

Both teams played stellar defense to preserve the tie.

In the eighth, Sierra Vista second baseman Adrianna Somerville made a diving catch of a fly ball at the first-base foul line, then threw a strike to second to double a runner off to end a Crusader threat.

In the ninth, Faith Lutheran center fielder Breanna Hemphill countered when she chased down Taylor DeGuzman’s blast to quell a rally.

“That was the play of the game, making that diving catch saved a run,” Chilman said. “That totally was the play of the game.”

Foley came on in relief in the sixth inning to get the win, giving up no runs and three hits on six innings of work.

Faith Lutheran will face the Northern League tournament runner-up Churchill County to open the state tournament.

“It’s nice we don’t have to face the top seed from the North first,” Chilman said. “And we hope it’s these two teams playing for the championship on Saturday. That would be fun.”