No. 2 Shadow Ridge softball outlasts No. 4 Palo Verde

As she watched her right fielder snag a fly ball for the final out Tuesday, Shadow Ridge pitcher Josslin Law raised and then quickly lowered her arms.

It was a gesture of relief as much as it was celebration.

Law went the distance and scored the go-ahead run as the Mustangs, No. 2 in the Review-Journal’s Class 5A rankings, edged host and No. 4-ranked Palo Verde 2-1 in 11 innings.

“It was a sigh of relief there at the end,” Law said. “It felt good to be done.”

Law allowed a run in the bottom of the first and then shut out the Panthers (11-6, 4-1 5A Mountain League) over the next 10 frames. She allowed seven hits, struck out seven and walked two.

And when right fielder Bella Andersen ran down a fly ball off the bat of JoJo Corniel to strand two runners and end the game, Law was finally able to walk off the mound with the win for the Mustangs (11-2, 5-0). It was the team’s eighth consecutive victory.

“Definitely more relieved,” Law said. “It feels good to get it out of the way. I was a little nervous coming in.”

Shadow Ridge tied the game in the fourth on an RBI single by Jordynn Hernandez, but neither team was able to scratch across another run until the 11th.

Law led off the inning by lining a single to center.

“All I was thinking was, ‘I’ve got to do this for myself at this point,’” Law said. “Just adjust to the pitches, do what I do best.”

Abby Covington followed Law’s single with a single of her own, and Law moved to third on a fielder’s choice. She came home on a wild pitch, sliding headfirst across the plate after the ball squirted a few feet away from catcher Madi Malloy.

“I know that catcher, and I don’t know … it was just instinct, I guess,” Law said.

Law pitched to contact most of the game, and the defense held up, making just one error despite strong winds howling from left to right that made most fly balls more of an adventure than usual.

“I would get a little nervous, but I knew my outfield would have my back,” Law said.

Andersen wasn’t the only outfielder to make a key play. Center fielder Stevie Robison ended the eighth inning by running down a fly ball off the bat of Taylor Johns and catching it against the fence. Left fielder Alina Pavlovich snagged several hard-hit balls.

Law threw 144 pitches, 96 for strikes. She said she’d never pitched that many innings in a game before.

“I think the most I’ve done is nine,” Law said. “Eleven is definitely kind of crazy. But I definitely could not have done it without my outfield and my defense.”

Covington went 3-for-4 with a double, and Robison and Pavlovich each went 2-for-5.

Johns was 2-for-5 with a triple and the only run for Palo Verde. Makayla Enriquez and Cameron Lauretta each added two singles for the Panthers, who had an eight-game win streak snapped.

“In the end, win or loss, it would have been fine,” Law said. “We play them again, and we would have come out next time more aggressive, more ready to play them.

“I’m tired, but I’m happy that we got through it.”