‘We’re going to be a tough team to beat’ Lady Trojans nearly pounce Cougars — PHOTOS
Last Saturday’s non-league contest marked the beginning of the road to state for the Lady Trojans softball program.
Taking on a well-round Coronado High School, the Class 5A program waived off pre-game senior ceremonies to take the game as serious as possible.
It worked out for the Cougars, as they just barely mustered a gritty 3-2 win over the Lady Trojans.
The girls nearly kept their perfect 12-game win streak alive, but in all reality, it was the perfect time to lose.
“Yeah, I think this is actually a good loss. It opened our eyes a bit,” Trojans head coach Brian Hayes said. “We played a solid game — good defense, solid pitching, decent hitting — we just missed those key moments.”
It was clear going into the later innings that the contest would be decided by one minute mistake.
A change-up from Hayes that caught too much of the plate on a 1-2 count was ripped up the middle by Summer Gilliam, scoring the Cougars go-ahead runners, Bailey Goldberg and Sophie Bendlin.
Down 3-0, the Trojans knew Coronado’s defense wouldn’t allow any slips through the cracks of its smothering defense.
The machine-like infield scooped up every shot hit their way, until the fifth inning.
A single on a hard grounder past third base brought freshmans Aspen Middaugh and Jaycie Hayes to narrow the deficit to only one.
“From an offensive standpoint, we keep telling them they’re close — they’re really close,” coach Hayes said. “Defensively, the message is simple: don’t let your offense affect your defense.”
And it didn’t.
The Lady Trojans concluded the state-like preparatory contest without committing an error in the field.
As for the sticks, you can’t expect to put up 10-plus runs every single game.
“We feel like we’re getting there. Evalenne Armendariz is having good at-bats, Mariah Gray had some today as well,” Hayes said. “Jaeyln Rodriguez is coming along—we’ve got several players trending in the right direction. If we can get four or five players hot at the same time, and everyone else just does their job, we’re going to be in a great spot.”
Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@pvtimes.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.
