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San Manuel Miner
The San Manuel softball team extended its winning streak to 9 games and in the process, captured the Hayden Softball Tournament Championship. The Miners defeated Douglas in the Championship Game, 3 – 2. The tournament took place last weekend.
The Miners benefitted from an outstanding pitching performance from Lyana Waddell in the championship contest. She pitched a complete game allowing 4 H and 2 ER.
The normally potent Miners’ offense was limited by Douglas and held to only 3 runs in the game. It was only the fourth time this year that they’ve been held to 3 runs or fewer in a game. Alyssa Cuellar connected for a homerun to account for one of the Miners’ scores. Felicia Medina and Mariah McBride were responsible the team’s other RBI in the game.
The Miners will look to extend their winning streak this week with games against Ft. Thomas and San Carlos before a showdown at Ray on April 4. Like the baseball teams, San Manuel and Ray are two of the top softball teams in Division IV. The game at Ray is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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