Softball: Dial M for Macha -- Red Mountain blanks Chaparral

April 1, 2014 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Red Mountain's softball team doesn't need much help to win. Not when Bre Macha is firing on all cylinders like she was Tuesday night.

Macha's pitching and an error-plagued defensive night by Chaparral resulted in Red Mountain walking away with a 6-0 victory in a Division I battle of titans at Red Mountain.

Red Mountain ran its overall record to 15-4-1, 7-1 in power-ranking games. The Lady Lions have won four straight after finishing the Desert Mountain Tournament with two losses and a tie Chaparral is 12-6, 4-2 prg. The first softball power-rankings of the season will be posted on Wednesday (April 2) morning.

"We're starting to find it again," Red Mountain coach Rich Hamilton said. "Playing like I know we can. Bre was very good. She's been very good the last few times out."

How good/ effective was Macha? The Lady Lions senior ace allowed three hits, struck out 10 and didn't walk a batter. Only two balls left the infield -- a fly out to center by Lauren LaTerra in the fourth and Dallas McBride's solid single to left in the seventh. The two hits prior to McBride's were a pair of infield nubbers in the third that Red Mountain fielders had to pocket with no play.

As for Macha's counterpart McBride, Chaparral's lefty mainstay, she was effective and decently sharp. The defense behind her was not. Chaparral committed five errors by four different infielders. Five of Red Mountain's six runs were unearned. McBride allowed three hits, walked six and struck out five in five innings. Only one of the walks ended up scoring and after the game it was defense that consumed Chaparral coach Stefanie Ewing.

"Good teams can't make that many mistakes," Ewing said referring to the five miscues. "Not against a team like that or really any team. We had some of the same problems in the Desert Mountain Tournament (runner-up finish), but got away with it. It's frustrating because we can be good.

"We have a lot of good teams to play yet. It's going to come down to are we going to do what it takes to be better."

Red Mountain scored its first run in the second. Savannah Kirkpatrick reached on an error, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball and crossed the plate on a ground out by Lindsey Steverson.

Three more Chaparral errors in the fifth led to Red Mountain increasing its lead to 4-0. Two runs scored on errors and the third on a wild pitch. Red Mountain added two runs in the sixth after McBride was removed with Alyssa Fernandez and Alex Wiley stroking back-to-back doubles and Wiley scoring on the fifth error of the game by the Lady Firebirds. Fernandez and Wiley had two hits apiece (four of the five Red Mountain had in the game).

Red Mountain plays again Thursday night visiting Horizon in a 6 p.m. start that figures to match Macha and Horizon's T Statman. Chaparral's next game is Wednesday (April 2) at home against Dobson.

The evening wasn't a total downer for Chaparral. Ewing walked away with winnings from a 50-50 in-game raffle. Chaparral's mentor walked away with $108.