Mustangs ace fires no-hitter

Mandy Harmon acknowledged she wasn't at her best Tuesday.

And that should scare the rest of the Sunset Region softball tournament field.

The Shadow Ridge senior pitcher walked the first batter of the game, then retired the next 21 in order, firing a no-hitter to lift the Mustangs (23-10) to a 7-0 win over Clark in the opening game of the Sunset playoffs at Majestic Park.

"Honestly, I felt like I wasn't on top of my game today," said Harmon, whose team is bidding to win its third straight region title. "The team just played really well together. Our defense made all the plays."

Harmon needed only 66 pitches, 50 of them strikes, to put away the Chargers (18-12). She struck out only six, including the side in the second inning.

Clark didn't help its cause as 10 of the 21 outs came on first pitches.

Still, it took some wonderful defensive plays by the Mustangs (23-10) to keep the no-hitter intact.

Shortstop Rae-Ann Bohm made a running basket catch in shallow center field for the first out of the sixth inning and charged well on a grounder, avoiding a potential short hop, for the final out of the game.

Harmon got 11 groundouts and four flyouts to go with the six strikeouts.

And she got all the offensive support she needed from the top three in the Mustangs' order -- Courtney Winnett, Ashley Eldridge and Bohm, who combined to go 7-for-12 with three doubles, five runs and three RBIs.

Shadow Ridge advances to meet Northwest League rival Cimarron-Memorial in the winners' bracket semifinal at 6 p.m. today. Clark falls into the losers' bracket and will meet Bonanza at 4.

• Cimarron-Memorial 4, Bonanza 2 -- Nora Murphy's three-run homer with two outs in the fifth inning broke a scoreless tie and sent the Spartans (22-9) past Bonanza (28-7).

All four of Cimarron's runs were unearned, helped by five Bonanza errors.

Still, the Bengals rallied to within 3-2 in the sixth when Emily Osborn scored on Jessica Delp's grounder and Nicolette Lind scored on a wild pitch.

Starlyn Thomas singled and scored, thanks to a two-out error, in the seventh.

Vanessa Gonzalez was 2-for-3 with a run for Cimarron.

The Spartans' Carrie Sheehan tossed a three-hitter and struck out nine.

• Durango 8, Arbor View 6 -- Ashley Hall belted a three-run homer in a four-run first inning, and the Trailblazers (25-7) never trailed.

Hall finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs as Durango built leads of 5-0 and 6-1 before holding off a late charge by the Aggies (16-15).

Arbor View pulled to within 8-5 in the seventh and had runners at second and third with no outs but tried to score on a fly ball and had a runner thrown out at the plate.

Jaexie Balilea was 3-for-4 with a double for Durango, which will face Centennial in a winners' bracket semifinal at 6 p.m. today.

Chelsea Venable homered for Arbor View, which will meet Desert Oasis in the losers' bracket at 4.

• Centennial 5, Desert Oasis 0 -- Lindsay Konopelko tossed a three-hit shutout, and the Bulldogs (23-7) used a 12-hit attack to down the Diamondbacks (13-21).

Kyiie Bartlett went 3-for-4 with a triple, a double and an RBI for Centennial, which scored three runs in the first inning.

Katie Lee was 3-for-4 for the Bulldogs.

SUNRISE REGION

• Las Vegas 3, Liberty 1 -- Pitcher Monique Hernandez allowed four extra-base hits, but the Wildcats made stellar defensive plays behind her on several occasions in beating the Patriots.

"I didn't know how the team was going to respond," said Las Vegas coach Danielle Rumph, whose team couldn't practice Monday because bees swarming the campus caused the school to be locked down for more than four hours. "Our defense was just awesome, as we made plenty of plays behind Monique. They (Liberty) knocked the cover off the ball; we just made plays."

Liberty (22-11) threatened three times in the first five innings but came away empty. In the first, the Patriots had Breanna English on base when Francesca Foti doubled. But English was thrown out at the plate.

Nikki Blindeagle tripled to open the Liberty third but was left stranded.

In the fifth, Robin Lowery hit a double and stole third, but again the Patriots couldn't bring her home as Blindeagle struck out and Carson Cooper was robbed of a hit by Las Vegas second baseman Bri Guzman.

Liberty's run came on English's two-out solo homer in the sixth.

The Wildcats pushed a run across in the first and added two in the fourth on RBI singles from Nikki Diaz and Sabrina Anderson.

Las Vegas (15-8) will meet Green Valley in the winners' bracket semifinals at 6 p.m. today. The other semifinal pits Silverado against Foothill.

• Silverado 9, Valley 1 -- The Skyhawks jumped on Vikings starter Lorena Villamar for four runs in the first inning and never looked back.

Mikayla Thielges hit a three-run homer for Silverado in the first inning. The Skyhawks (15-12) added a run in the third and four in the fourth.

Akina Zuccaro had four hits for Silverado.

• Green Valley 6, Rancho 1 -- Carly Aughney tossed a five-hitter and fanned 11 as the Gators beat the Rams.

Green Valley's Ali Bodnar and Kayla Anderson had two hits each.

Jessica Ramirez had two hits and an RBI for Rancho (8-19), which plays Liberty at 4 p.m. today.

• Foothill 6, Eldorado 3 -- Kylee Taylor and Amy Austin homered as the Falcons beat the Sundevils.

Foothill's Shelbie Medrano didn't give up a hit until there were two outs in the fifth.

Brittany Young drove in two runs for Eldorado (10-11), which plays Valley at 4 p.m. today.