Cougars run around before, during softball victory

The Cougars spent the first inning chasing each other around the bases.

After its enthusiastic pregame romp, Coronado scored six runs with two outs in the first inning and held on to edge host Foothill 8-7 in a showdown for first place in the Southeast League.

“We like to mix things up and get the kids pumped, so we play different games,” Coronado coach Melissa Krueger said. “It’s just something different. It gets them pumped up.”

And it showed.

The Cougars (17-10, 5-0 Southeast) loaded the bases on bunt singles by Haley Harrison and Kiley Harrison and a one-out bloop hit by Basia Query. After a strikeout, Alex Battest singled home two runs, Katie Dawson followed with an RBI single, and Nicole Hardy delivered a run-scoring double to left. Two more runs came home on an error.

“That was huge, and to have it all happen with two outs,” Krueger said. “We preach ‘win the first inning.’ ”

Foothill (16-12, 4-1) closed within 6-4 with four unearned runs in the third, then Coronado appeared to ice the game on Query’s two-out, two-run single in the sixth.

But the Falcons didn’t quit, scoring three times in the seventh before stranding the tying run on base when Dawson scooped a low throw at first to end the game.

“I’ve never known Foothill to quit,” Krueger said. “We know we have to get through them to win the league. Our team didn’t quit, either. We battled back.”

The Cougars’ Danielle Amato gutted out a six-hitter, throwing 83 of her 140 pitches for strikes.

Query was 3-for-4, and Battest went 2-for-3 for Coronado. Kiley Harrison, Amato and Hardy each went 2-for-4.

Hannah Russo was 2-for-2 with a double to lead Foothill.