(Tucson, AZ) After dispatching the Scottsdale College Artichokes on a five inning 14-1 run rule victory, the Pima Aztecs went looking for the sweep.
Devynn Marshall started in the circle for the second game of the doubleheader. Scottsdale got on the board first with a double in the left field gap to drive in the run. Back to back hits by the Artichokes drove in the second run of the inning forcing Head Coach Rebekah Quiroz to make a pitching change in favor of Abril Nerey.
Nerey hit the first batter she faced putting runners on first and second with one out. A grounder to first got the second out as the runners moved up a base. A comebacker to the mound got the Aztecs our of the inning.
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Casper struck out to begin the bottom of the first for Pima. Slapper Arianna Gomez after fouling off several pitches, grounded out to third for the second out. Nerey struck out but the ball got past the Artichoke catcher and she legged it out to first base. Vanezza Caldera smashes a grounder up the middle that handcuffed the shortstop and an error on the centerfielder allowed Nerey to advance to third base. With runners at the corner Alizea Durazo-Corday had a chance to get Pima on the board but softly grounded out to end the Aztec threat.
Nerey got off to a good start by striking out the first Artichoke batter looking. Hope Adams fielded a ball off the end of the bat for an easy 3-4 out. Scottsdale went down in order with a pop fly to to Adams.
Amaya Turner-Vizcarra led off the home half of the second for Pima and grounded out to first for out number one. Mackenzie Judge stroked one up the middle to get one base. Adams, who homered in the first game grounded to first but Judge moved over to third with two outs. Samantha Angulo struck out to leave the Aztec empty.
Nerey continued in the third striking out the Scottsdale leadoff hitter. A single broke the streak of four consecutive outs. A base on balls got the Artichokes runners at first and second. A comebacker to Nerey got the second out but the runners moved up to second and third, but Nerey threw a smoking fastball to strike out the batter and ended the Scottsdale threat.
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Casper led off for the Aztecs but grounded out on a slow roller to first. Gomez grounded to second on a close play to first. Nerey walked on five pitches to bring up Caldera hit a seeing eye grounder to right field putting runners at first and second. Durazo-Corday smoked am RBI double in the gap in left center scoring Nerey. Turner- Vizcarra struck out, but the Pima got on the board now only trailing 3-2 going to the top of the fourth inning.
Nerey got the first batter to pop up to herself for the first out and got the next two batters one looking, one swinging on her heater.
Judge got on with a roller past the shortstop to get the leadoff batter on. The first pitch to Adams Judge stole second. Adams singled down the third base line and Judge was held up at third. With runners at the corners Angulo singled to right driving in Judge and with a lazy throw from the Artichokes right fielder took second with Adams ending up at third and still no outs. Caspar singled to center scoring both Adams and Angulo as the Aztecs took the lead. Gomez beat out a roller to third, paused and took second base as the Scottsdale defense fell asleep. Nerey got an RBI on a fielders choice to give Pima their fourth run of the inning. The hits continued as Caldera shot a ball in the right field gap to score Gomez with run number six and fifth of the inning. Durazzo-Corday singled to left took second on the throw and a dead ball throw into the Atichoke digout scored another run and put Durazo-Corday at third. She scored on Judge’s single who stole second on the first pitch to Adams who was at bat for her second time in the inning. Adams grounded to second to bring the nightmarish inning to and end for Scottsdale. The Aztecs scored seven runs to take a commanding 8-3 lead into the fifth inning.
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Nerey continued to get the leadoff batter out. Second baseman Judge fielded the next batter’s ball for an easy 4-3 out. Scottsdale got the second batter on via the walk but the Artichoke’s at bats ended quickly on a grounder to third with no damage done.
Angulo slapped a grounder past the diving Scottsdale shortstop to lead off the inning. Caspar bunted for a single sending Angulo to second. With the first two batters aboard, Gomez legged out a bunt down the third base line to load the bases. Nerey stroked a hit to right on a drawn up outfield scoring Angulo for the ninth Aztec run. Still no one out Caldera rocketed one out over the right field fence for a walk off grand slam and a 13-3 win.
Pima run rules the Artichokes for the second game sweeping the doubleheader.
A little home cooking was just what Pima needed. After two heartbreaking losses in the Vegas Tournament, the Aztecs got their record to 6-7.
Thursday Pima heads north to play another doubleheader against Paradise Valley.
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