(Surprise, AZ) The Park Gilbert softball team opened up their weekend of double headers with a clean sweep against the Spirit of Ottawa (Ariz.) in their Friday doubleheader at Willow Canyon High School in Surprise, AZ.
Game 1 – was marked with a combination of star performances from Mariah Martinez and Natalie Castro, as the Buccaneers took the first half of the doubleheader by a score of 3-0. The win marked the Bucs first shutout victory of the season.
The first four innings were scoreless, but the Bucs remained locked in and took advantage of Spirit mistakes to get on the board in the fifth. The bats opened up in the sixth, highlighted by Castro’s two-run triple that closed the scoring.
Martinez gave the Bucs six and two-thirds innings, and while unable to get to the complete game shutout, she did get the win in the dominant outing. The reigning Cal Pac Player of the Week rose once again to the occasion, finishing with six strikeouts while allowing no runs on just four hits, walking only two. Martinez shone against Ottawa after racking in six RBI against Antelope Valley prior to this week’s doubleheader.
Castro dazzled at the dish, accounting for all three Buccaneer runs in game one. The transfer from Phoenix College scored on an error in the fifth, then had the big two-run triple to right-center in the sixth inning that put the finishing touches on the Bucs victory.
Game 2 – ended in five innings in a mercy rule, thanks to the four Buccaneer runs in the fifth, as the final score ended 10-2. Martinez took center stage again, but this time at the dish.
The Bucs offense combined for 10 runs on 14 hits, including an electric four-run first that set the tone early. The runs cannot be all attributed to the Bucs explosive offense, however, as the Spirit certainly helped out with six errors, three of which coming in the first.
The Bucs tallied once again in the third assisted by two Spirit errors, but were answered quickly with a pair of runs allowed in the bottom half. The Bucs responded in the fourth off a Gabby Romero RBI double, then broke the game wide open with a four-spot in the fifth.
Martinez was a big part of the mercy rule victory, as she went 3-4 with three RBI. Her two-run double in the fifth put the game into mercy rule territory as the defense held strong in the bottom half to close the books on the doubleheader sweep a bit earlier than expected.
Abril Nerey continued her consistent run in the circle, allowing just five hits and two runs over her stellar five innings of work. Her only blemish on the day was a two-run homer given up in the bottom half of the third, but worked consistently, throwing 67 of her 95 pitches for strikes.
The Bucs return to Bell Bank Park for a double header against Bethel University on Feb. 25 at 5 p.m.
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Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Lainie Hallows
