Slumping Mesa softball tries to reverse season
Matt Wilhalme
Nearing the halfway point of the season the Thunderbird softball team is trying to shake off a tough six game losing streak.The Lady Thunderbirds teed up against Pima in a double header on March 3 at home hoping to turn their luck around. Down 1-0 at the top of the second inning, starting pitcher Shannon Dukes attempted to get the Thunderbirds out of the inning.
With a few quick defensive plays the ladies were able to get Pima’s base runners off the field and return to their dugout to finish the inning.
“Three innings and we’ve only collected one base. We need to collect more bases,” a frustrated Thunderbird player yelled out between innings from the dugout.
Dukes hit her stride in the fourth inning and struck out the first batter.
Then she caused the second batter to pop a ball out at first base.
Pima then tried to capitalize on a base hit and steal second base, but they were halted by the arm of catcher Carrie Peters who threw the runner out at second base.
After allowing three more hits in the fifth inning, the ladies from MCC were able to buckle down once more and finish the inning without allowing another run, keeping the score 1-0 in favor of Pima.
Chelsea Evanoff, a sophomore pitcher for Pima, kept the Mesa players off of the bases with solid pitching that produced strike-outs and little more than routine fly balls.
The Thunderbirds finished the game with a 4-0 loss and prepared for the second game of the double header.
MCC went on to lose the second game by an even greater margin expanding the Lady Thunderbirds losing streak to six games.
The Thunderbirds will visit Yavapai Community College next and face a team that has only lost one game this season and is nationally ranked at No. 5 by the National Junior College Athletic Association.
Followed by a home game against the similarly struggling Scottsdale Artichokes.
