
LIONS SHOW GRIT AT DAVE KOPS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
The JSerra Softball team showed its competitive mettle in winning three of five games at the Dave Kops Tournament of Champions in Arizona.
The Lions opened the tournament with a 3-2 loss to Coronado High of Nevada on Thursday at Rotary Park in Bullhead City.
The Cougars jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning before the Lions tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on a passed ball that scored senior Brooke Stephens.
Coronado pushed across two runs in the top of the sixth inning to go ahead 3-1.
JSerra pulled to within a run in the bottom of the inning, as freshman Annabel Raftery scored on a wild pitch, but the Cougars escaped with the win.
Sophomore Abby Ford pitched six innings for the Lions, allowing only one hit and one earned run, while striking out 12.
Stephens went 2-for-3 with a double on the day.
Raftery, sophomore Brooklyn Lamb, senior Lauren Gaitley, and freshman Ava Van Heerde each collected a hit apiece.
The Lions opened the second day of the tournament on Friday by defeating the Lakewood Lancers 8-1 at Ken Fovargue Park in Bullhead City.
Junior Liliana Escobar was in dominant form again in the circle, pitching seven innings and allowing only three hits, while striking out a season-high 17 batters.
Raftery went 2-for-4, including the first home run of her career, and drove in two runs, while also scoring two runs.
Freshman Madeline Capek went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Freshman Melia Munoz went 1-for-3 with a two-run double.
Junior Zena Edwards collected three hits to lead the team.
JSerra faced off with Hamilton High of Arizona in the second game of the day at Rotary Park, falling to the Huskies by a score of 3-1.
Gaitley drove in the Lions’ lone run of the game in the fourth inning.
The Lions concluded its’ tournament run on Saturday with a pair of victories.
JSerra opened the day with a 6-3 triumph over Rio Rancho High of New Mexico at Mojave High School.
The Lions scored three runs in the first two innings and tallied three more in the top of the sixth inning, which offset a late three-run rally in the bottom of the inning by the Rams before JSerra closed out the win.
Munoz went 2-for-4 with an RBI single.
Edwards collected two hits and drove in a run, while Raftery added an RBI double and scored two runs.
Gaitley also drove in a run, while junior Emily Zora scored two runs.
Escobar started in the circle for the Lions and struck out seven in three innings.
The Lions defeated the El Toro Chargers 6-1 in their tournament finale.
JSerra jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, sparked by an RBI double off the bat of junior Ava Geoghegan and an RBI single by Raftery.
El Toro tallied a run in the top of the fourth inning, but Capek blasted a solo homerun in the fourth inning to stretch the Lions’ lead to 4-1.
JSerra added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on RBI singles by Lamb and Munoz.
Raftery and Edwards each went 2-for-3 for JSerra, who finished with 10 hits in the game.
The offense proved to be more than enough for Escobar, who was once again in dominant form in the circle.
Escobar went the distance, allowing one run and one hit in six innings, while striking out 14 batters.
JSerra is now 8-3 overall on the season.