McCormick, Panthers show new-found consistency in win over Longhorns
Palo Verde’s softball team struggled to put all of its pieces together last season.
Inconsistency plagued the Panthers as the team lost eight games by one or two runs.
That may be a thing of the past, thanks to improvements on on offense and defense, along with the continued fine pitching of Melissa McCormick.
The junior tossed a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts Friday to help Palo Verde knock off visiting Legacy, 8-2.
“Melissa’s been doing a great job on the mound,” Palo Verde coach Kelly Glass said. “We have the offense, the defense and we’ve got the pitcher. I think that’s the big picture. We have made major strides from last year when we were losing one-run ball games.”
McCormick regularly got ahead in the count and didn’t give up any walks in an 89-pitch effort.
The Panthers (15-4, 5-0 Northwest League) scored twice in the first and third innings and never trailed.
The Longhorns (14-3, 3-2) didn’t get their first hit until the fourth inning when Sierra Pico stroked a double to right-center field. Pico was 2-for-3 with a run scored.
“They have a lot of good hitters who put the ball in play,” McCormick said. “I tried to stay off the plate and keep them chasing as much as possible with curveballs and my riseball.”
Palo Verde used two bunts and a two-run single ripped to left field by Danielle Hearn to score three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 7-0 lead. The Panthers added another run in the sixth on an RBI single by McCormick that plated Angel Council.
McCormick finished with three singles, two RBIs and a run scored. Council singled twice, Erika Stratton added a triple and a single, and Lauryn Stover contributed a double for Palo Verde.
The Longhorns loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning and took advantage of two errors to score two runs on Danielle Pick’s single down the first-base line. Legacy left two runners on base as McCormick registered two strikeouts to end the game.
McCormick likes her team’s chemistry and has designs on reaching the playoffs this season as opposed to falling short last year.
“We want to get a banner in our gym,” she added. “We all have worked really hard and it’s finally paying off.”
