San Manuel Miner
San Manuel, the defending State Champion, advanced to the semi-finals of this year’s State Championship playoffs with two lopsided wins last weekend. The 2nd-seeded Lady Miners defeated 18th-seeded St. Gregory last Friday, 18 – 0. They defeated 7th-seeded Desert Christian in Saturday’s quarterfinal game, 9 – 1.
Junior Alyssa Cuellar went 3-for-3, including two homeruns, and had five RBI in Friday’s win over St. Gregory. Felicia Medina homered, doubled, and had four RBI for the Lady Miners.
Pitching ace Lyana Waddell pitched a complete game, one-hit shutout to earn the victory. She went five innings, allowed two walks, and struck out twelve.
Angela Navarro, Felicia Medina, and Alyssa Cuellar each had two hits in Saturday’s win. Cuellar and Mariah McBride each had two RBI, while Medina knocked in three runs.
Waddell was the winning pitcher, tossing her second straight complete game. She allowed one earned run on five hits, walked two, and struck out twelve against Desert Christian.
The Lady Miners, now with a record of 27 – 3, will take on 3rd-seeded Veritas Prep at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night at the Rose Mofford Softball Complex in Phoenix.
With a win, the Miners will face the winner between Ray and Valley Christian on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The Miners have won 21 of their last 22 games entering Friday night’s game. Their lone loss during that span came against 4th-seeded Ray. The Lady ‘Cats ended the Lady Miners 19-game winning streak and loom as a potential Championship Game opponent.