Rams grab second win in dominant fashion
Antelope softball followed up its first win of the season last Wednesday, a 22-10 win over Yuma High, with another dominant win against Mountainside, defeating the Wolves 18-0 on Monday at home.
Sophomore outfielder/catcher Alana Jaime went 3-for-3 in the win with a pair of home runs, four RBI and a stolen base. Senior outfielder Jimena Arana also had four RBI, going 2-for-3 with a home run.
Toeing the rubber was senior Yareli Manriquez, who threw four innings of shutout softball with six strikeouts and a walk.
Antelope looks for its third straight win on Friday against Highland Prep.
Raiders fall by one to Jaguars Cibola softball was unable to complete a five-run comeback in the bottom of the sixth inning on Monday afternoon against Desert Ridge, falling 8-7 in its first home game of the season.
The Raiders fell behind early, giving up a pair of runs to the Jaguars in the first inning, but fought back in the home half of the fifth.
The Jaguars then broke the deadlock in the next frame, scoring six runs off junior pitcher Stephanie Cortazar.
Senior outfielder Maleia Padilla with two doubles and four RBI, but ultimately 12 runners left on base spelled defeat for the Raiders. Cibola plays at Desert Vista on
Monday.
BASEBALL Gila Ridge falls to Perry
It hasn’t been a good few days to be a Yuma County team matched up with the Perry Pumas. Just two days after the Pumas beat San Luis in the 6A State Championship in boys soccer, Perry baseball took down Gila Ridge 8-5 on Monday evening.
The Hawks jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the early innings, backed by a strong four frames from junior
with the hitter’s timing.
“I can come set even before the hitter’s in the box. I can’t pitch until eight (seconds left on the clock). But as soon as his eyes are up, I can go. If his eyes are up with 12 seconds to go, I can fire.
“I had the conversation with the umpire (David Rackley) to make sure that’s legal. And that is (legal). I’m just getting used to how this is going to be in 2023.”
According to MLB, there were 69 pitch-timer violations through the first 35 spring training games over the weekend – including 35 violations in 16 games Sunday.
While Scherzer thinks the timer is working in pitchers’ favor, hitters aren’t complaining, either.
“I like it,” Yankees star Aaron Judge said. “I think you can kind of play around with it a little bit. I think it definitely speeds up the game. Anything that kind of keeps the pitcher moving and on the go, and hopefully keep him out of breath, I’m looking forward to it.”
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said MLB is providing updates – nearly in real time – on the rules changes package that is making this spring training unique.
The two major changes are a pitch clock and a limit on extreme infield shifts.
“They did a really nice job of sending out a memo this morning with all the things that took place yesterday and questions that players and managers that just had to be addressed in order that you can cover it with your staff and club as you feel appropriate,” Marmol said. “So we did that with our staff and brought two different points with our players because they’ve done a really good job of communication.”
There were more hiccups on Sunday throughout the Cactus and Grapefruit League games, but most took the changes in stride.
Rockies reliever Daniel Bard was called for a ball after throwing a warmup pitch after the 30-second deadline heading into an inning. The 30-second mark before innings was also a source of confusion during the Cardinals-marlins game. Two Cardinals pitchers were called for balls before the start of innings before, according to Marmol, the umpires gathered and realized they were interpreting the rule incorrectly.
“It’s spring training for everybody,” Marmol said. “Those things will get ironed out before we get out of here.”