SUNSET SOFTBALL: Panthers’ Lacro finds sweet spot again

Bishop Gorman’s softball field has no name attached to it yet.

But there’s a spot just beyond the right-center field fence that probably should be called Lacro’s Landing.

On Thursday, Palo Verde junior Melissa Lacro hit her fourth home run to the same spot in as many games at Gorman to lift the Panthers to a 9-2 win over Arbor View in the losers’ bracket final of the Sunset Region Tournament

“I just really see the ball here. It looks huge,” said Lacro, whose team was a 7-2 winner over Bishop Gorman in Thursday’s first game to set up the showdown with the Aggies. “There are people who just always have fields where they hit really well. This just happens to be one of those fields for me.”

Palo Verde (26-6) will meet Centennial (32-6) in the region final at 3 p.m. Friday at Gorman. The Panthers must win twice Friday to win the region title. Centennial needs only one win.

A diminutive right-handed hitting outfielder, Lacro ripped a three-run home run with one out in the third inning to give the Panthers a 5-1 lead. The game was never in doubt after that as Palo Verde added four more runs in the fourth.

Lacro homered twice over the same fence panel in last year’s Sunset Region final at Gorman and blasted a shot to the same spot in the Panthers’ win over Cimarron-Memorial on Wednesday.

“She likes that spot,” said Palo Verde coach Kelly Glass.

Emily Guthrie also homered for Palo Verde, which had just six hits, but plenty of quality at bats against the Aggies (20-15).

Rachel Williams, who had a monster effort in the day’s first game, went 1-for-2, walked twice and scored the Panthers’ first two runs, and Breanna Beatty was 1-for-3 with two runs.

It was more than enough run support for Kelsea Sweeney, who allowed just six hits and struck out four. Both Arbor View runs were unearned.

“We hit well, we moved runners well, and my pitchers threw very, very well today,” Glass said. “We have some things we need to fix if we want to come out on top for two games tomorrow.”

Arbor View tried to rally in the seventh, loading the bases and getting a hit to right field from Kellie Anderson, but Lacro threw out Karli Lehr at home to end the game.

In the opener, Williams went 3-for-4 with a go-ahead three-run homer in the second, two runs and four RBIs as the Panthers knocked out Gorman (21-13).

Williams allowed two unearned runs on eight hits and struck out five.

“She’s on fire, and I love it,” Glass said. “She’s in the zone, but she’s not the only one, which is nice.”

Beatty was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Dayana Gage was 2-for-4 for Palo Verde.

Ashley Witucki was 2-for-3 with an RBI for Gorman.