By Derryl Trujillo —
CORONA – The Murrieta Mesa and Corona Centennial softball teams engaged in a slugfest Friday, Feb. 18, which lasted all the way until sunset and produced 25 runs with 27 hits and 3 home runs. Coming out on the winning end of that offensive showcase was the Huskies who took a 12-3 lead after four innings and then had to hang on for dear life as Mesa struck for eight runs in their final two at bats. The win avenges an earlier tournament loss from Wednesday in which Centennial fell 5-2 and gives them a Stu Penter Classic “B” bracket title.
Jada Lewis had an RBI single to put the Huskies up 3-0 and they led 4-0 after an inning and a half as another run came across. Mesa struck for three runs in their half of the second as Zoe Karam walked and Paige Bambarger doubled. Gianna Romano came through with a 2 RBI double to right field and another run scored via a passed ball as the Rams made it a one run game.
Centennial responded with five runs in their half of the third with Victoria Macias connecting on the first of her two long balls, this one a two-run shot to right field which made it 6-3 Huskies. Then Alayah Toscano, Lewis, and Sierra Humphreys had three straight RBI hits to make it 9-3 Centennial after three.
Macias’ second home run of the day (another two-run blast) came an inning later to nearly the same spot as her first in right field and Leata Sherlin’s line drive solo homer to center field made it 12-3 Huskies after four innings.
Macias remarked, “We were fired up to get another shot at them today after falling on Wednesday. Our mindset was better today and that allowed us to get the job done. I wasn’t sure about that second homer, but it just happened to carry and even if it didn’t, I knew the next person had my back.”
Mesa struck for five runs in the sixth to pull within four at 12-8 as Jazzy Burns, Romano (2 run double down the third base line), and Jaelynn Eaves all had RBI hits in the frame. Kenzie Farrier reached on an error which brought home another run.
In the Mesa seventh Karam’s towering three run homer to deep center field made it 14-11 Huskies with one out but the Rams could get no closer and fell by that same margin.
Huskies coach Krista Humphreys said, “Wednesday we were lacking clutch hitting and today they were seeing the ball really well in those spots. Even though we’ve only played five games I am proud of the fact that when we get punched, we’ve punched right back every time. Playing teams like Murrieta Mesa is the only way we get better so I’m glad we got to play them twice.”
Mesa coach Tony Romero remarked, “We’re a young group right now that’s learning on the fly against high level competition, but they were the better team on this day. We made a couple of errors and gave up long balls but I’m happy with the resilience we showed in making a game of it late when we could have easily folded. This is a tough schedule we’ve put together in preparation for defending our Southwestern League title from a year ago and these kids will be ready when the bell rings.”
Derryl Trujillo can be reached at socaltrekkie@gmail.com.
