One thing the Carson High softball team showed Thursday afternoon against perennial powerhouse Spanish Springs was plenty of fight.
In the opener, Carson extended Spanish Springs to eight innings before losing, 6-2, and then played six strong innings before giving up six seventh-inning runs and losing 12-4.
The sweep by Spanish Springs gave the Cougars a perfect 10-0 overall record, 4-0 in Northern 4A play. Carson dropped to 1-3 in league. The Senators won’t have much time to recover, as they play three games Friday in the annual Reed Invitational at Shadow Mountain Park.
In the opener, Carson came within an eyelash of winning in the bottom of the seventh and giving junior pitcher Jailene Salciedo a much-deserved win.
Trailing 2-1, Kedre Luschar singled and eventually scored to tie the game at 2. With two outs, Nicole Brown hit a pinch-hit single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Amaya Mendeguia followed with a sharp single to right, but Brown was thrown out at home.
“We sent her,” coach Carlos Mendeguia said. “Amaya hit it in a perfect spot. They made a good play. They made a great throw. If that throw is off a foot either way we get a walk-off win.”
The eighth, unfortunately, was all Spanish Springs.
Salciedo, who had given up two runs in the third and then pitched four scoreless innings, yielded a lead-off double to Courtney Huff and then a run-scoring single to Aubrey Parks. After striking out the next hitter, Rylee Retzer doubled Parks to third. Tyra Clary hit a comebacker to Salciedo for the second out, and it appeared that the Senators would escape with minimal damage.
Amidori Anderson spoiled that by hitting a three-run homer over the center field fence to make it 6-2. Clary retired the side in order to end the game.
Carson managed just four hits, three of them coming in the seventh inning when it rallied to tie the game.
Kailee Luschar tripled to right in the first and scored on a wild pitch to give Carson a quick 1-0 lead.
After that triple, Kaylah House retired the next 18 hitters, though only one via strikeout. Salciedo did an equally good job.
“They are a good team,” Mendeguia said. “They just beat Douglas 6-0 (Wednesday). Not an easy team to score on.
“Jailene is more mature. We were trying to mix it up quite a bit. We had a game plan. We wanted to keep them off balance, and I think we did a good job of that.”
Salciedo started strong in the second game, throwing two scoreless innings before the Cougars managed four runs in the third.
Carson battled back in the third, scoring three runs against SS ace Clary. Lauren Lemburg hit an infield single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lauren Hawkins and to third on an infield single by Kailee Luschar. Kailee Luschar stole second and Kedre Luschar followed with a two-run single. Kedre Luschar went to second on the throw home and moved to third on a throwing error. Salciedo helped her cause with a run-scoring single to make it 4-3.
The Cougars tacked on two more runs, both unearned, in the fifth inning for a 6-3 lead. The Cougars threatened in the sixth when they put runners on first and second with nobody out. Mendeguia lifted Salciedo in favor of freshman Taylor Murphy, who retired the next three hitters.
Carson’s Cam Quilling blooped a double to right-centerfield to start the bottom of the sixth. She advanced to third on Kassidy Cooley’s second single of the game and scored when Amaya Mendeguia hit into a double play thanks to a great play by Huff. Alex Salciedo singled, but was stranded at first.
Murphy gave up six runs and seven hits in the top of the seventh.
“She is a freshman,” Mendeguia said. “We need somebody in that No. 2 spot. Jailene is a workhorse, but she can only do so much. She just started to get tired (in the second game).”
Kedre Luschar led Carson with three hits, and Kailee Luschar and Cooley added two hits apiece.
