Battle of the birds: Roadrunners no match for Eagles in softball

HOLBROOK

The stands were mostly filled with Holbrook fans, but the Flagstaff Eagles softball team trounced the hometown’s Roadrunners 13-1 Saturday.

Aside from a tough double-header against Mingus a few days ago, the Eagles have had a good season thus far, while the young Holbrook team is still finding its footing.

Tiffani Tyler pitched for Holbrook in the first inning. The first at-bat was Andy Elliott for Flagstaff, who hit it deep into right field and ran for second. In the very next play, she ran home and scored the first point for Flagstaff. Gianna Baca would also make it home, bringing the score to 0-2 Flagstaff by the end of the inning.

Elliot pitched well for Flagstaff, striking out three Roadrunners before making a run home.

At the start of the second inning, it was an equally short round as the Roadrunners’ defense was able to stop the Eagles from going farther than second base. In the bottom of the inning, Elliot succeeded in striking out three consecutive Holbrook players.

By the third inning, the Eagles had adjusted to Holbrook’s pitcher, changing the game in their favor. Olivia Lanssens and Baca were able to get onto the bases when Reese Elliott came to bat. She hit the ball deep into the center, bringing Lanssens and Baca home. Reese Elliott and Andy Elliott were able to make it home before Holbrook ended the top of the fourth, with Flagstaff leading 0-7. Holbrook’s lineup was again struck out by Andy Elliot.

In the fourth inning, the Eagles’ strategy seemed to be built on daring as they constantly pushed to get as far as they could in the base runs. After hitting the ball, Andy Elliot ran to second base and then home on the next play. During the fourth, there was an accident when a ball was thrown to second base and accidentally struck Baca on the back as she slid in. There was a timeout, but Baca quickly rose and returned to the game amidst cheers from spectators and players alike. She, and Lanssens, Anderson, and Cheyniya Thompson would score while Reese Elliott stole home.

In the fifth inning, Holbrook mustered and got some of its players onto the plates. Lorna Spencer was hit by a pitch on the arm and walked to first. Despite the hit, she stole second base. Then during the next play, she made the bold move and ran all the way home. The ball was coming in when she slid in, right under Anderson, Flagstaff’s catcher, almost causing Anderson to trip as she caught the ball a second later. Spencer scored the first point for Holbrook in the game, 1-13.

Kamele Shelendewanow pitched for Holbrook, causing Flagstaff to hesitate as it adjusted again, but they quickly continued their assault. Anderson would score again for Flagstaff before Holbrook’s defense ended the inning.

In the sixth inning, Holbrook made one last desperate attempt to score some points. Shelendewa made it to first and then stole second, but the game ended when two of her teammates were struck out, and the third was out when her ball was caught.

Despite the loss, Holbrook coach Alex Baker saw it as progress. They’re training a brand-new team with many freshmen and sophomores. He is confident that their season will improve.

“We made some improvements, we struggled early defensively, and we turned it around later in the game, third to fourth inning. Our pitcher — both pitchers (Tiffany Tyler and Kamele Shelendewa) — did an outstanding job. Tiffany Tyler got us a lot of ground balls and pop flies. Unfortunately, we didn’t make enough plays behind her, but I thought she did an outstanding job going against a 4A opponent, a really good Flagstaff team. She has done a good job all year for us.”

In addition to the team’s youth, COVID-19 threw it a curve ball.

“That is another challenge for us this year. With COVID and us starting later, we don’t have as much practice time this season. We are playing three games a week, pretty much every week. … We will come around.”

Holbrook pitcher Tiffany Tyler agreed her team is inexperienced, but they will get better in time.

“We are off to a rough start. I think as soon as we build confidence and start believing in ourselves more, the better we will get. We just lack confidence right now,” Tyler said.

Meanwhile, Flagstaff feels like the game reenergized them for the season, but they recognized Holbrook as a worthy opponent as their pitcher taught them how to adjust their game in the first few innings.

“We had just come off a two-game loss to Mingus, and they have an awesome fast pitcher,” Coach Ray Hernandez said. “We adjusted for the pitcher so we could hit them, then we came down for this young lady, and she was throwing a little bit slower, which was hard for my girls. … I had to have a talk with them between innings to let them know to ‘slow your swing down,’ and that is what they did.”

When asked what he felt of the season thus far, Hernandez shared how devoted his team is to the game.

“I like the young ladies that are playing. The season is going awesome. I have a great bunch of young ladies on this team. They are all about playing softball. Out here, they are goofing around, but as soon as they cross that white line on the field, they are all softball.”

Hernandez was proud of his girls this game and also said two of his players, Andy Elliot and Lilly Anderson, had just signed on to play softball at the collegiate level. Elliot signed with Paradise Valley College in Phoenix, and Anderson signed with Embry-Riddle in Prescott.

Lily Anderson said she was happy with her team’s performance despite how the game began.

“I think it went really well; I am happy we pulled together as a team. I think it was really a big team game, we all hit well, and we were all excited to play,” Anderson said. “I thought our pitchers did really good at hitting their spots, not getting deep in the counts and making sure they were ahead of everything.”

Andy Elliot meanwhile says she was grateful to be able to play her senior year despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For me, I think it has just earned its value. Number One, it is senior year, Number Two, we didn’t get to play that much last year,” Elliot said. “I think you just learn that this is really important to us, and we really enjoy playing, and it is a blessing to be able to play during this. It is just something we can’t take for granted. I am just happy to play Holbrook and look forward to the rest of the season.”

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