Desert Oasis softball downs Sierra Vista for first Southwest League win

A team must get its first league win before it can think about its second.

After dropping the first two games of the series against rival Sierra Vista, the Desert Oasis softball team bounced back at home Friday to defeat the Mountain Lions 5-4 and earn its first Southwest League win of the season.

“We believe that we can beat anybody. We really think that we have the talent to do that,” Desert Oasis coach Jordan Connell said. “But at the same time, we really respect this team. This has been our rivalry since the schools opened up.”

Desert Oasis (7-3, 1-2 Southwest League) rallied against the Mountain Lions (2-1, 2-1) after allowing a run to cross in each of the first two innings.

Sophomore Meaghan McInerney tied the game with a two-run single in the third inning, and three more runs in the fifth inning were enough to seal the win for the Diamondbacks.

“We had two games at their place, and we feel we didn’t play to our potential,” Connell said. “We spent a lot of time this week just working on our hitting, and today we were finally able to put it all together. I wish we could’ve taken two of them, but it is definitely a high note for us to go into next week.”

Desert Oasis has struggled early in the season to string key hits together to get runs across. The Diamondbacks were able to do that Friday and hope to keep that momentum moving forward.

“I think Game 1 we had a hard time hitting, Game 2 we saw it a little better,” Connell said. “It’s one thing to say it and another to do it, so once they saw that they can hit the ball, I think it just opened the door for everyone else. I’ve been telling them with two outs it’s not over yet, it means we still have a batter left and I think we took that to heart today.”

Sophomore Paisley Garcia was charged with closing down the game in the seventh inning, and while she allowed one hit she got the outs the Diamondbacks needed to clinch the victory.

“She’s definitely one of our go-to people. We relied on her a lot when we were in California,” Connell said. “Holly (Severance) did a great job, but we felt that with the batters coming up that we’d like to get a new look in there. I had full faith and confidence in Paisley.”

Contact reporter Bill Slane at bslane@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4559. Follow @bill_slane on Twitter.