Carlsbad’s quest for a 17th state title in softball is still alive after the No. 3 Cavegirls waited until the final inning for the offense to wake up and come away with a 4-3 win against No. 7 Los Lunas in the 5A semifinals.
Los Lunas’ Alex Tendrid and Carlsbad’s Faith Aragon kept the game scoreless through five innings. In the sixth inning Mackenzie Zuni scored on a passed ball to put Los Lunas on the board. An RBI single by Kylie Garcia and an RBI double by Alexxa Torres gave the Lady Tigers a 3-0 lead.
Haiven Schoolcraft came in to pitch the final 1 1/3 innings for the Cavegirls while Faith Aragon finished with 5 2/3 innings, five hits allowed, three earned runs, four strikeouts and three walks issued.
Heading into the bottom of the seventh inning Carlsbad had recorded just a single hit, a single which came in the sixth inning from Madison Loera. The Cavegirls still trailed and were down to their last three outs.
It turns out the Cavegirls didn’t need a single out to end the game. Jessica Munro singled to start out the inning and Grace Aragon put Carlsbad on the board with a home run over the left field wall to cut the lead, 3-2.
Haiven Schoolcraft then singled on a line drive to centerfield. Johnna Aragon stepped up to the plate and on a 2-1 count she homered over the left field wall for a walk-off win, 4-3.
Carlsbad faces No. 1 Cleveland for the 5A championship on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the University of New Mexico.
Matthew Asher can be reached at 575-628-5524, masher@currentargus.com or @Caveman_Masher on Twitter.
