Criminals rally past San Luis for walkoff win

Sidewinders come up just short in bid for historic victory

The San Luis softball team, according to coach Greg Laguna, has never before beaten a fellow Yuma Union High School District opponent.

On Tuesday at Frank Thomas Field, the Sidewinders came agonizingly close to doing so.

Yuma High spoiled San Luis’ bid for history by staging a late rally to escape with a 12-11 victory, scoring six runs over the final two innings and walking it off when junior pinch runner Erica Sanchez scored on a one-out fielder’s choice in the bottom of the seventh.

The Criminals (1-2 AIA), who trailed 9-6 entering the bottom of the sixth and 11-9 entering the bottom of the seventh, never led until the very end.

“Right now we’re working through team-building and working together as a team and becoming comfortable,” said second-year coach Dena DuBois. “And they actually showed that they’re going to commit around the fifth inning.”

San Luis (0-3) was in the rare position of playing a tightly contested YUHSD game. From 2011-2016, the Sidewinders went 0-70 against YUHSD opponents with 65 of those losses coming by at least 10 runs.

“It’s tough, just to get over that hump,” Laguna said. “We had a chance to make school history. We’ve just got to minimize our errors; if we do, we take it.

They started playing not to lose as opposed to playing to win. It’s something that you can’t really practice, the pressure situations.”

San Luis — led by senior outfielder Fabriely Bobadilla (3-for-4), junior shortstop Dori Pulido (2-for-4, 3 RBIs), sophomore pitcher Kiabeth Soto (3-for-5), junior catcher Katia Sandoval (3-for-4) and junior third baseman Berenice Jaime (3-for-4) — put up more than enough offense to get the job done.

The Sidewinders jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the top of the first, and their lead remained comfortable until the bottom of the fourth,