The crack of the ball, the chants of the team and the crowd, the smell of hot dogs and hamburgers, it was Softball time. A double play, triple RBI and positive team spirit throughout the team as uplifting and encouraging as it all was as well did not lead to any wins by Varsity Softball.
Varsity Softball continued what they started this last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the Softball Tournament. Every game became a greater hope for a win and although the Mustangs battled their way through every game they did not advance in the tournament.
“3, 2, 1 Mesa,” chanted by the team started off game 1 of the second part of the tournament in the Tewinkle Sports Complex. This game against Godinez high school was a nice night out near the beginning and a tale of what was to come at the end of the game.
Varsity Softball continued what they started this last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the Softball Tournament. Every game became a greater hope for a win and although the Mustangs battled their way through every game they did not advance in the tournament.
“3, 2, 1 Mesa,” chanted by the team started off game 1 of the second part of the tournament in the Tewinkle Sports Complex. This game against Godinez high school was a nice night out near the beginning and a tale of what was to come at the end of the game.
Though the team did have a few highlights including Corina Casillas’ sliding into the third the last inning making it bases loaded and potentially three more runs in order for the girls to really battle it out to the end, Godinez was always a step ahead making sure to throw strikes and get the Mustangs out.
With Godinez leaving Mesa in the dust at an ending score of 18 to 4 the positive vibe from the team could not have been more surprising and encouraging.
Pitcher Niki Delgado (#6 for the Mustangs) commented saying, “We did really good today, and we didn’t give up. It felt really good not to get frustrated and even though we lost we had a good attitude and we’re proud and we should be.”
Coach JP Hamilton concurred stating “We played so much better, played extremely well, we have a shot in another one. I just hope we play like this at tomorrow’s games.”
Game 2 Costa Mesa versus the Santiago Cavaliers began with a beautiful sunny day and a great hope for a few wins.
Molly Settles began the game off on a positive note getting a home run on her second hit. The game continued in the favor of Mesa even after Santiago placed a substitute, (#1) A. Renteria in for their pitcher in which Dulce Gomez #5 for the Mustangs got a hit on her fifth pitch and ran home, making another run for the team.
The team continued to support each other in the dugout with constant chants of “Battle out their kid” and “you got it girl” but they could have supported each other a little more out on the field.
Donne Obong for instance did not get the chance to hit as much as her coach would have liked as a result of errors and misreading of pitches by fellow teammates. “Donne’s one of our best hitters, we want to let her hit… what are you doing out there?”
Mesa scored the most runs in the last inning when it seemed they were all up for the battle of the game, even though it was too late. With four runs in the last inning and a total of seven they needed a little more to beat the Cavaliers nine runs.
With Godinez leaving Mesa in the dust at an ending score of 18 to 4 the positive vibe from the team could not have been more surprising and encouraging.
Pitcher Niki Delgado (#6 for the Mustangs) commented saying, “We did really good today, and we didn’t give up. It felt really good not to get frustrated and even though we lost we had a good attitude and we’re proud and we should be.”
Coach JP Hamilton concurred stating “We played so much better, played extremely well, we have a shot in another one. I just hope we play like this at tomorrow’s games.”
Game 2 Costa Mesa versus the Santiago Cavaliers began with a beautiful sunny day and a great hope for a few wins.
Molly Settles began the game off on a positive note getting a home run on her second hit. The game continued in the favor of Mesa even after Santiago placed a substitute, (#1) A. Renteria in for their pitcher in which Dulce Gomez #5 for the Mustangs got a hit on her fifth pitch and ran home, making another run for the team.
The team continued to support each other in the dugout with constant chants of “Battle out their kid” and “you got it girl” but they could have supported each other a little more out on the field.
Donne Obong for instance did not get the chance to hit as much as her coach would have liked as a result of errors and misreading of pitches by fellow teammates. “Donne’s one of our best hitters, we want to let her hit… what are you doing out there?”
Mesa scored the most runs in the last inning when it seemed they were all up for the battle of the game, even though it was too late. With four runs in the last inning and a total of seven they needed a little more to beat the Cavaliers nine runs.
Mesa’s last game against the La Quinta Blackhawks on their home field comforted them with some advantages. Coach Hamilton noted to catcher Alofa Skipps jokingly, “We’re way too close… we can talk now.” By the end of the long tournament though even this advantage couldn’t prepare Mesa for battling hard enough to win this game.
The Mustangs did improve in many ways this last game, remembering all the details about the last couple games they needed to work on and not making as many of the same mistakes. Dulce Gomez, Donne Obong and Maria Diaz all worked together in the second inning to get the bases loaded and get a run for their team. The team also got three runs in one #5 for the Blackhawks, Cathy Duong which caused a bit of confusion and conflict for their coach demanding the umpires agree on the ball which enabled these runs “fair or foul”.
All this effort seemed to pay off for the ladies at the bottom of the fifth inning where they were just two points away from the Blackhawks eight runs. A few errors and missteps by the team causing them to miss fly balls and nearly pass outs changed their hopeful win in the sixth inning when La Quinta managed to round off the score at six to ten.
Coach Hamilton continually gave Alofa SKipps (#24, catcher) advice and picked out things she could do better including getting off her knees as the pitch was thrown and moving toward the ball instead of staying in one place expecting the ball to come to her. By the end of the Tournament she did, being nominated the tournament MVP. “She did great the whole tournament and definitely deserved it. She got balls, blocked balls, did everything we asked her to do,” commented Coach Hamilton with Skipps adding “I get a patch for my Letterman jacket and overall I think we did great as a team, we are all turning the corner to do our best now.”
All in all the team and their coaches could not have been more proud of the way they all worked on their mistakes and continually displayed their “way to battle”.
“We didn’t execute the way we worked on in practice, but we did great the whole tournament.”
This tournament made it seem like the Lady Mustangs have a lot to learn about Softball this year, but with their upbeat attitude and a little more practice they will be able to step it up and represent that MESA GREEN.
The Mustangs did improve in many ways this last game, remembering all the details about the last couple games they needed to work on and not making as many of the same mistakes. Dulce Gomez, Donne Obong and Maria Diaz all worked together in the second inning to get the bases loaded and get a run for their team. The team also got three runs in one #5 for the Blackhawks, Cathy Duong which caused a bit of confusion and conflict for their coach demanding the umpires agree on the ball which enabled these runs “fair or foul”.
All this effort seemed to pay off for the ladies at the bottom of the fifth inning where they were just two points away from the Blackhawks eight runs. A few errors and missteps by the team causing them to miss fly balls and nearly pass outs changed their hopeful win in the sixth inning when La Quinta managed to round off the score at six to ten.
Coach Hamilton continually gave Alofa SKipps (#24, catcher) advice and picked out things she could do better including getting off her knees as the pitch was thrown and moving toward the ball instead of staying in one place expecting the ball to come to her. By the end of the Tournament she did, being nominated the tournament MVP. “She did great the whole tournament and definitely deserved it. She got balls, blocked balls, did everything we asked her to do,” commented Coach Hamilton with Skipps adding “I get a patch for my Letterman jacket and overall I think we did great as a team, we are all turning the corner to do our best now.”
All in all the team and their coaches could not have been more proud of the way they all worked on their mistakes and continually displayed their “way to battle”.
“We didn’t execute the way we worked on in practice, but we did great the whole tournament.”
This tournament made it seem like the Lady Mustangs have a lot to learn about Softball this year, but with their upbeat attitude and a little more practice they will be able to step it up and represent that MESA GREEN.
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