Mustangs get on the board

 

Mullen girls are on the board.

It was a struggle with lead changes, home runs and errors. One of the teams actually used three pitchers. It took 2 hours, 37 minutes. There were a combined 24 hits and 24 runs. And it ended on a double play.

So, yes, there was a lot going on Saturday, but there will be no complaints from the Mustangs. They won their first game of the season, 14-10 against Arapahoe, giving new coach Dave Atencion his first victory in command of Mullen.

The Centennial League victory at a quite crowded Santo “Doc” Scavuzzo fielded pushed the Mustangs to 1-2 overall and in league. Arapahoe, the 2019 league champion, is 1-3.

“The two previous games we talked about finishing and they did this time,” Atencio said. “We worked hard in practice all week on it.”

And Mullen needed it – the Warriors kept coming. They used a five-run sixth inning to take a 10-9 lead and wipe out a 9-5 deficit. They also hit their second and third home runs of the game off Mullen sophomore pitcher Morgan Margeson to take the lead.

However, Mullen put up a five-spot of its own in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by a double by freshman Avery Walters, singles by Avery Panozzo, Elizabeth Brady, Ona Medina and Madelyn Bertsch, two of Arapahoe’s six errors and smart base-running. Twice Mullen got into rundowns between third and home, and scored to press the Arapahoe defense.

Arapahoe briefly threatened in the top of the seventh in the slugfest, but Maggie Bertsch smartly turned a grounder to her at third base into a game-ending double play.

“It was kind of weird,” Maggie Bertsch said. “I kind of had a feeling that it was going to come to me. I’ve been in that situation before, so I knew what to do.”

While Arapahoe used a very unusual (for schoolgirl softball) three pitchers, Margeson battled and went the distance. Indeed, she was hit around a bit, including for power, but said “just knowing I had a team behind me no matter what was good and I knew they were going to hit ... and it’s great to get on the board.”

Defensively, Mullen, which also trailed 5-0, booted a couple of plays and was slow on a couple of slap attempts in front of the plate that turned into hits, but turned in plays when necessary and Madelyn Bertsch had a good running catch in left-center to end the fourth.

Said Maggie Bertsch: “Now that we have one under our belts, we’ll keep getting more.”

 

The Mustangs will be in Aurora on Wednesday, when they will visit Smoky Hill, first pitch at 4:30 p.m.

 

Arapahoe – Edwards LF-CF 5-3-3-0, Dieffenbach rf-lf 4-1-2-0, Maney cf-ss 4-2-3-2, Salazar ss-p 2-2-1-3, Grossman 3b-p 3-1-1-3, Miller p-3b 4-2-1-0, Cackowski 1b 3-0-1-1, Gammill 2b 2-0-0-0, Slaybaugh 2b 1-0-1-0, Hummel c 3-0-0-0, Long rf 1-0-0-0. Totals 31-10-12-9.

Mullen – Panozzo c 5-0-2-1, Walters lf 4-2-2-1, Mag Bertsch 3b 3-0-1-0, Hurtado 1b 5-2-0-1, Brady 2b 5-1-2-2, Medina ss 4-2-1-0, Mad. Bertsch cf 2-1-2-0, Margeson p 3-0-1-2, Encinias rf 3-0-0-0, Simms cr-rf 1-1-1-0. Totals 35-14-12-7.

E – Encinias, Grossman 3, Edwards, Hurtado, Miller Gammill. SB – Dieffenbach, Mag. Bertsch, Simms. SAC -- Dieffenbach. Gammill.

2B – Margeson, Cackowski, Walters. HR – Salazar, 2 on in first; Mankey, 1 on in 6^th; Grossman, 1 on in 6^th.

W – Margeson (1-2). L – Grossman. Batteries – Miller, Salazar (3), Grossman (5) and Hummel; Margeson and Panozzo. HBP – Maney (by Margeson). PB – Hummel 2. WP – Salazar 2, Grossman 3. SF – Grossman. T --  2:37.