Softball pitchers duel in top 10 matchup

Photo by Kaitlin Trujillo
Karina Rocha, freshman infielder, prepares to swing at the ball. Rocha’s high school softball team won a state championship.

Belle softball broke the 26 win streak, and still won the series against the West Texas A&M Buffs on March 17-18.

Both of the Belles’ wins were near deadlocks. The series opener on March 17 saw a draw for the teams until senior Kelly Johnson was brought in off junior center fielder Brooke Mangold’s RBI in the seventh.

That was the only run scored, giving the Belles a 1-0 win.

"I’m just extremely proud of the way we’ve played this stretch," Head Coach Travis Scott said.

Game two saw the deadlock end in the fourth junior shortstop Danae Bina reached home off of Mangold’s second RBI of the series.

Like the previous game, the score was 1-0 for the Belles, insuring the series win.

"It was a pitchers’ duel," Scott said. "I knew that there would be some shutdown with pitching, but I didn’t expect all three games to be like that way."

The finale saw the evenly matched teams face off.

The Buffs, hungry for a win, halted the Belles from the mound, only giving up three hits in seven innings.

This, along with the Belles’ freezing the Buff bats, forced an extra inning.

Buff offense emerged from the freeze and fired off several game changing hits to bring in three runs.

While the Belles won the series, they suffered a 3-0 loss to the Buffs.

"We’ve got a team that can play, and three pitchers that can throw the heck out of it," Scott said. "Even though we didn’t show it this weekend, we know that we are going to be able to step back up and get it going again."