Pro T’s holds on for MNLL title
Wendy Alexander/ The Madera Tribune
Pro T’s celebrates a 4-3 victory over Mazon Trucking for the Madera National Little League Softball Championship.
To say softball is a pitcher’s game is an understatement when you look at the Madera National Little League championship game.
Pro T’s Danity Aguirre and Mazon Trucking’s Trinity Cervantez combined 30 strikeouts in the 36-out game.
It was Aguirre’s team that held on for a 4-3 victory Wednesday to capture the MNLL Softball Championship.
Leading by a run, Aguirre stranded the tying run at third with less than two outs in both the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings.
Aguirre scattered seven hits and struck out 16 batters with two walks. She also overcame seven errors by her defense.
Cervantez struck out 14 and allowed just one hit — a two-run go-ahead triple by Mylah Avila.
Cervantez and Bella Sandoval each had three hits with Jillian Villalobos getting the other for Mazon Trucking.
Both pitchers allowed two runners to reach base with two outs in the first, but both pitchers got out of the inning unscathed.
However, both teams struck for two runs in the third inning. With one out, Avila reached on an error, stole second and scored on a wild pitch. Neveah Chavez walked and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch for Pro T’s.
Mazon Trucking tied the score in the bottom of the third. Lezleh Perez led off by reaching on a dropped third strike and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Villalobos hit a sharp single up the middle to drive in Perez. Villalobos took second on a throw and scored when Cervantez’s hit found the right-centerfield gap for a triple.
However, Cervantez was cut down at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch for the second out of the inning. Sandoval followed with a single to right, but a strikeout ended the inning.
Pro T’s came right back in the fourth with a rally keyed by the bottom of the line-up.
Scarlette Gutknecht drew a one-out walk. Sophia Ramirez was hit by a pitch.
Two batters later, Avila hit a fly ball over the centerfielder’s head. By the time the dust settled, Gutknecht and Ramirez scored and Avila stood at third with a triple.
From there, Cervantez settled down and allowed two base runners in the next two innings.
Mazon Trucking bounced back in the fourth and put runners at first and third with two out, but Villalobos hit a hot liner to right that was snagged by Pro T’s for the final out of the inning.
Mazon Trucking got within one in the fifth. With one out, Cervantez lined a double down the left field line. Sandoval singled to right-center to drive in Cervantez. An error allowed Sandoval to advance to third with one out. However, the next two batters struck out with the tying run at third.
Mazon put pressure on Aguirre in the sixth. Alyssa Ortiz led off by reaching on an error. She stole second and went to third when the throw went to centerfield with nobody out.
Aguirre settled down and struck out the next three batters to give Pro T’s the MNLL championship.
