Wolves make do without injured Romo, defeat Clark

Basic’s softball opponents easily might spend much of the early season focusing on what the Wolves don’t have — namely senior pitcher Lacey Romo, who has yet to play this year due to an arm injury.

Romo’s teammates are showing they can be just fine without her on the field, though.

The latest example came Wednesday when the Wolves used a five-run fourth inning and more than capable pitching from freshman Tiana Tapuala and sophomore Summer Masden to collect a 7-2 win at Clark.

“This could be one of the blessings in disguise because everybody out here knows they have to pick it up a little bit,” Basic coach Bart Black said. “Hopefully that will translate into a stronger overall team when she does get back.”

Romo was a workhorse last season, posting a 1.23 ERA and 267 strikeouts in 171 innings. She also hit .434 with five home runs for the Wolves, who finished 20-7.

But the injury has sidelined her indefinitely, limiting the senior to coaching the younger pitchers before the game and calling pitches from the dugout.

Tapuala and Masden didn’t register a strikeout Wednesday, but a steady defense helped the two work out of several sticky situations in a game that stranded 11 Charger runners.

Tapuala allowed four hits and three walks in three innings, and Masden surrendered five hits and four walks, but each pitcher gave up only one run.

“That was the best we’ve played defensively all year,” Black said. “The defense made solid plays. To give up just two runs, I’ll take our chances with that any time.”

The Wolves gave their pitchers plenty of run support by striking for five runs on just two hits in the fourth inning. After bases-loaded walks to Jessica Pittman and Paige Blake, Adrian Brown delivered a three-run double to center to make the score 7-1.

“I’m pretty confident in our whole lineup,” Black said. “Clark is a really good team. Beating a team like that, really beating anyone our schedule is big. There isn’t a cupcake on our schedule.”

Brown was 2-for-4 with the three RBIs, and Marissa Ross went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

Julia Hagen went 3-for-3 with a triple, and Jasmine Fukuda was 2-for-4 for Clark.