The USA Southwest squad got off to a strong start in this year’s Senior League Softball World Series with a hard-fought 6-3 win over a scrappy USA South team.
Coastal Point • Ruslana Lambert
USA Southwest's Domanique Escudero races down the first base line against USA South on Sunday, Aug. 3.
The teams were locked in a 2-2 tie heading into the bottom of the fifth inning when Southwest (Albuquerque, N.M.) began to break it open.
The rally began when Deanna Garcia led off with an infield hit off South pitcher Theresa Rollins. Amanda Buffington came in to pitch for the South and promptly struck out Raquel Alonzo to notch the first out of the inning. Jasmine Wilson followed with a base hit to centerfield to put runners on first and second, and a wild pitch advanced them to second and third, respectively.
Marie Aragon then drew a walk to load the bases with one out. Angie Chavez then tapped a grounder back to Buffington, but her throw home was a little high, and Garcia came in safely to give Southwest a 3-2 lead, and kept the bases loaded. Crystal Perea then drew a walk to bring in Wilson, and stretch Southwest’s lead to 4-2. Buffington then rallied herself, striking out Veronica Jaramillo and Lynnae Logan to squash the rally.
The South team (Virginia Beach) did not go down easy, though. Amy Aguire led off the top of the sixth with a walk, and moved to second after Lauren White followed with a single to center off Southwest starting pitcher Perea.
Wilson came in to pitch for Southwest, and Megan Gilder put down a sacrifice bunt for the South team. Gilder was thrown out at first, but Aguire was able to come around to score when the throw to third was off line. That made it 4-3, and the South had White on third with one out.
Wilson was able to strike out Erin Corey to pick up the second out of the inning, and she was able to stop the scoring when she got Lexi Villies to ground out to end the inning.
The bottom of the sixth started out innocently enough. Buffington struck out Angie Chaves and got Garcia out on a comebacker to the mound to record two quick outs. Alonzo then got on by an error, and advanced to second on the errant throw.
Wilson followed with a double to centerfield to knock in Alonzo and stretch Southwest’s lead to 5-3, and she scored herself when Aragon stroked a single to left. Buffington was able to get Chavez to ground out to end the inning, but the damage was done, and Southwest held on in the seventh for the win.