Chaparral stunned by Canyon View
May 4—The Chaparral softball program was battle-tested coming into its third playoff game.
They had edged out both Casa Grande and Mountain View Marana by one run, leading them into a matchup against a familiar opponent in Canyon View.
The two programs faced off to start the season in February where in a hotly contested game, the Firebirds stunted Canyon View 3-2. On the back of Wilson's complete game one-hitter, the Firebirds were confident they could get the job done.
The idea, however, did not mimic the result in the second contest, as Canyon View's offense overpowered team ace Lexie Wilson, leading to a 17-6 defeat for the Firebirds.
"They hit the ball really, really well," said Chaparral head coach Johnathan Kemp. "We knew coming in that they were a great hitting team from top to bottom. They've got monsters in the middle of the lineup, Kirk and Garcia, but they can hit anywhere from one to nine."
The first inning started off poorly for Chaparral, as Canyon View's Sadie Kirk blasted a three-run home run in the top of the first. Following the three-run opening frame, junior pitcher Emily Davis quickly set down the first three Firebird batters — bringing the hot offense back to the plate.
The Jaguar hitters picked up right where they left off, rattling off six more runs on Wilson — including home runs from Ryland Buchberger and Rudy Laws-Albano and a two-RBI double from Mariana Garcia. The effort promptly elicited a Chaparral pitching change, bringing freshman Makenzie Leathers to the mound.
She would get out of the inning with three straight groundouts, but the damage had already been done as the Jaguars held a commanding 9-0 lead in the second inning.
"(Leathers) is a freshman and we put her in a tough spot pitching in a state tournament game, and I thought she did a really good job," Kemp said.
The Jaguar scoring continued in the third — following another 1-2-3 inning from Davis as she struck out the side. This inning, however, was dominated by fundamental softball rather than home runs.
The Jaguars produced three runs, one by sacrifice fly, another by a squeeze bunt and the last by a hard-hit single.
"We wanted to make sure that we didn't give away any outs, we didn't want to make sure we had no errors, and we want to make sure that we put down the bunts that we needed to and do those kinds of things," Canyon View head coach John Jacobs said.
While holding a 12-0 lead through three innings, the Firebirds kept fighting, as Wilson came up to the plate with the bases loaded and drilled a grand slam, to narrow the Jaguar lead to eight runs.
"I was proud of the team that we came back," Kemp said. "We were down 12 to nothing, and we got it back to 13 to six. So, we felt like we were at least a little bit in the game if we could keep it going."
The Firebirds will regroup and prepare for their next matchup against No. 6 seed Campo Verde.
