Vaqueros strike late in game 2, split series
For nearly two hours, Anahi Grijalva and the Arizona Western Matadors kept Central Arizona off the scoreboard.
Despite stranding 10 runners on the bases be- tween the fourth and sixth innings, the Vaqueros finally capitalized in the seventh to edge the No. 19 Matadors (26-13 overall, 14-8 ACCAC) 2-1 and split Saturday’s doubleheader.
“It’s hard to say we had a bad day,” AWC head coach Nikki Bethurum said. “Because we did so great and
Central Arizona 4 AWC 1
CAC: 24-11, 18-8 AWC: 26-13, 14-8
(Central) played great too. We would have liked to have seen the bats come around.”
Cheyenne Hudson led off the inning with a single, before Sonia Solis belted a game-tying double. And moments later, Bella Garcia knocked in the eventual game-winning run with an RBI single to give the Vaqueros (24-11, 18-8) their first lead of the game.
“Anahi did amazing,” Bethurum said. “Hindsight is 20-20, maybe I could have put someone else in, but she was doing so great. I felt confident she could finish (the job).”
Despite Grijalva’s outstanding performance, the Matadors’ bats let her down.
saves for the Kings, who fell seven points behid the Coyotes.
Hayden beat Petersen with a wrist shot from the left circle to put the Coyotes ahead 1-0 12:47 into the first period. It was Hayden’s first goal since March 7, 2020, when he was playing for New Jersey.
Arizona doubled its lead 36 seconds into the second period when Crouse redirected Alex Goligoski’s shot in for his fourth goal.
Chychrun made it 3-0 with a thunderous slap shot on a power play at 4:19 of the third.
Kessel stole the puck in the neutral zone and went top shelf with a wrist shot for the 4-0 final at 12:56, putting him two points away from reaching 900 for his career.
Arizona was largely able to contain Los Angeles’ offense, even as the desperate Kings were playing to preserve their playoff hopes
after losing 4-2 to Minnesota on Friday. While they piled up 42 shots and plenty of scoring chances against the Wild, the Coyotes held the Kings to few genuinely challenging looks on Kuemper.
On the rare occasions when the Kings did create Kuemper was ready, including turning away the backhand shot on Austin Wagner’s breakaway late in the second period.
GOOD NUMBER
Coyotes forward Derick Brassard got his 500th career point with an assist on Hayden’s goal. Brassard has 194 goals and 306 assists in 897 games.
NO RAANTA
With Antti Raanta not available because of an upper-body injury, Adin Hill backed up Kuemper. Raanta, who has played in 12 games this season because of injuries, is day-to-day.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: At San Jose on Monday.
Kings: Host Anaheim on Monday.