Roosevelt holds Upland hitless in win

EASTVALE >> Following a 12-2 loss in February to Roosevelt, Upland coach Sarah Farnsworth tried to play a different hand in the opening round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

“When a team’s hot they’re hot, and it just wasn’t in the cards for us,” Farnsworth said.

On Thursday, three Roosevelt pitchers combined on a no-hitter, and Kayla Lyon hit a secondinning grand slam as the Mustangs

called Upland’s bluff in the rematch, winning 17-0 in a competition-rule shortened fiveinning game.

“Whoever we play we keep the same edge so even though we played them earlier we kept it the same, and it was a team effort,” Lyon said.

Lyon started in the circle and finished with five RBIs at the plate as Roosevelt (23-3) put the rest of Division 1 on notice with the win.

“I feel that this team has a destiny,” Roosevelt coach Mike Smith said. “We know that every game is going to be tougher than the last but our motto all year has been ‘Focus on the next game’ because if you don’t win that one then there won’t be a next one.”

Priscilla Llamas tossed two 1-2-3 innings, and Alyvia Hernandez came on in the fifth and snared a comebacker for the final out of the game, highlighting Roosevelt’s unshakable defense throughout.

“The defense was flawless, and we came out and hit the crap out of the ball,” Smith said.

Shut out for the first time this year, Upland (16-13) had its fourgame winning streak snapped in the season-ending loss.

“You can’t get any runs if you don’t get any hits,” Farnsworth said.

Lyon’s first career grand slam gave Roosevelt a 5-0 lead in the second inning as Mustangs hitters took a patient approach to start the game.

“It felt great to do something good for the team in that situation,” Lyon said. “I just had to keep a low-plane mindset and drive the ball.”

Llamas had an RBI single in the third inning as Roosevelt opened up a 10-0 lead, and added a three-run bomb to center field to make it 16-0 in the fourth.

Emily Carr smashed a runscoring double as part of the five-run third and dropped in an RBI hit in the seven-run fourth for Roosevelt, which won its 10th game of the season at home.

The Mustangs now have won seven consecutive and will play La Mirada winner in the second round Tuesday.