Granite Hills, Patrick Henry take down No. Co. foes

By Adam Paul
Updated: April 12, 2018

2018 EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL

By Adam Paul

EastCountySports.com

FALCON FIESTA TOURNAMENT

GRANITE HILLS 6, RANCHO BUENA VISTA 0

The Eagles behind pitching and defense and also the bats coming up big were able to defeat the Longhorns in a home Falcon Fiesta tournament contest.

Neither team could put together anything offensively in the early going but that would change in the bottom of the fourth inning when Granite Hills pushed across a run to take a 1-0 lead. With two outs Bailey Wallace (2-4, R) laced a single to center which was misplayed allowing her to reach all the way to third base, she would astutely steal home as the Longhorns were not paying attention for the run which was followed by a Catie Dobbs (2-3, R, 2 RBI, HR) single.

Moving along to the bottom of the sixth and still leading 1-0 the Eagles knew they needed some insurance and indeed did they procure the insurance needed. Leading off for the Eagles, Staci Chambers who was able to draw the walk, Erica Simon (RUN) into run, she stole second base and advanced to third on a Wallace groundout, Dobbs would come up and on a 2-2 count hammer the offering over the center field fence for a two-run blast to make it 3-0. This really woke the bats up as Amaya Esparza (1-3, R, 2B) followed with a double, Sydney Huse walked, Kaylenn Valenzuela (RUN) into run for Huse, McKenzie Boehm (3-3, R, RBI) laced a single to left which scored Esparza to make it 4-0. Still at second, Valenzuela advanced to third on an error and would come into score to push the lead to 5-0. A couple batters later Haley Johnson (1-4, RBI) singled to center which allowed Boehm to score making it 6-0.

Chambers and the Eagles would do the rest as they retired the Longhorns in order in the top of the seventh to end the game.

On the day, Chambers went 7 innings for the complete game victory, allowing zero runs and only allowing 1 hit while walking 1 and fanning 7 Longhorns.

PATRICK HENRY 6, ESCONDIDO 5

A late run by the Patrick Henry Patriots as the game was tied helped procure themselves a road victory on Wednesday afternoon.

The Patriots were able to draw first as they pushed across a run in the top of the first to lead 1-0 thanks to a double by Maddie Simmons who doubled and would come around to score. Lili Pena also had a double in the inning. However the Cougars would score in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 1-1. They would regain the lead in the bottom of the third as they took advantage of opportunities to take a 4-1 lead.

However Patrick Henry wouldn’t go down without a fight as they rallied with four runs in the top of the fourth to retake the lead 5-4. Leading things off was Ari Rios who laced a single, Andrea Wright followed with another single, a couple batters later Sydney Newton singled, Savanah Chapman knocked in a run on a ground ball, Lauren Nett knocked in run with a single, Simmons singled and Pena singled to round out the runs. Escondido answered the call again with a run in the bottom of the inning to tie the game again at 5-5.

Neither team scored in the fifth inning but the Patriots would take advantage of opportunities in the top of the sixth to push across what would be the go ahead for good run as Chapman doubled and came around to score on the base hit by Simmons.