Babcock shuts down Mustangs in State Championship re-match

RV Xpress Staff — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:58:33 +0000

The sun beat down on the field Friday afternoon at Ralston Valley’s softball field as the Mustangs took on the Lighting from Legacy. The funny thing is that this is the second time RV has played Legacy in three games. On the last game of the season a little shorter than a year ago the Mustangs played Legacy in the State Final and lost 4-1. In that game the mustangs got a leadoff hit to start out the game, but then struggled to get base runners the rest of the game resulting in the loss. Shelby Babcock showed why she is considered the best softball pitcher in the state by striking out each Ralston Valley batter at least once. A reason for the mustangs to have a little fire as they battled Babcock and the Lightning again this time the second game of the 2009 campaign.

Ralston Valley ranked number two in the state defeated Rocky Mountain earlier in the week ranked at number four in the state. But when it’s a 1 vs. 2 matchup nerves can be an issue.

However nerves didn’t seem to be an issue early for Ralston Valley’s Meaghan Murphy who retired the first six Legacy batters. And it looked like it could be an issue for Shelby Babcock early as she walked Megan Eldredge only the second Mustang to bat in the first inning. After Jennifer Hedrick sacrificed her over, Kelly Reeves was unable to get her in from second.

The Mustangs got a golden opportunity to do damage in the second after a Meaghan Murphy leadoff double and then two walks after that loaded the bases with just one out. However what could have been a big rally to put Babcock in an early hole turned into a missed opportunity. Two consecutive strikeouts ended the inning leaving the bases loaded.

Murphy continued to pitch well into the fourth only surrendering a double. But then disaster struck with three consecutive errors. The first occurred when Shea Rodriguez hit a ball right at Murphy; she had an issue handling it at first but then got it and threw it to Eldredge at first who couldn’t handle the throw. The next play was a ground ball that went through Eldredge’s glove and into right field advancing Rodriguez to third, and putting Buggs Torrez on first. Then catcher Marry Towner after a Murphy pitch tried to pick off Rodriguez at third but third basemen Hedrick couldn’t make the catch scoring Rodriguez. Torrez later scored in the inning to make it 2-0.

RV from that point on self destructed. They surrendered a run in the fifth on a passed ball and could not make contact on offense striking out eleven times. In the top half of the seventh RV could not get an out and Legacy put a nail in the coffin gaining a 6-0 lead and win.

Legacy outhit RV ten to one and struck out six times compared to the Mustangs eleven strike outs. Ralston Valley did reach base five times on balls and Murphy didn’t walk a single batter. But in the end a missed opportunity in the second inning and an error filled fourth dug the Mustangs into a hole they couldn’t get out of.

Game stats

Team	Runs	Hits	Errors
Legacy Lightning	6	10	0
Ralston Valley Mustangs	0	1	3

Ralston Valley

Player	At Bats	Hits	Base on Balls	Strikeouts
Jessica Castanuela	3	0	0	3
Megan Eldredge	2	0	1	1
Jennifer Hedrick	1	0	1	1
Kelly Reeves	3	0	0	2
Meaghan Murphy	2	1	1	0
Jackie Sanzalone	2	0	1	0
Marry Towner	3	0	0	1
Lauren Biddle	2	0	1	0
Brooke McHale	3	0	0	3

Pitcher Meaghan Murphy (1-1) L

93 pitches

70 strike-23 ball

Legacy

Player	At bats	Hits	Base on Balls	Strikeouts
Melissa Marcovecchio	3	1	0	0
Shae Rodriguez	3	1	0	0
Buggs Torrez	3	1	0	1
Shelby Babcock	4	2	0	0
Kaitlyn Mattila	4	1	0	1
Rainey Gaffin	4	1	0	1
Marisa Cordova	3	0	0	2
Jessica Ball	3	2	0	0
Payton Price	3	1	0	1

Pitcher

Shelby Babcock W

130 Pitches

56 ball- 74 strike

Ralston Valley [e]Xpress Newspaper » Softball

Babcock shuts down Mustangs in State Championship re-match