Patient Arbor View wears out Mustangs

Arbor View softball coach Maria Yoder has lectured her team to be more selective at the plate.

On Wednesday, the Aggies showed they were paying attention.

Arbor View was patient early and exploded late en route to an 11-1 win at Shadow Ridge.

“We’ve really been working hard on pitch selection,” Yoder said. “It’s been our major focus in most of our practices lately, just better pitch selection.”

The Aggies (11-10-1, 4-4 Northwest) used three walks, a wild pitch and a passed ball to score twice and take the lead for good in the second inning. Arbor View made Mustangs pitcher Tana Feiner throw 94 pitches in the first four innings.

Feiner blanked the Aggies on three hits and struck out 10 in a 1-0 Shadow Ridge win in the teams’ first meeting on April 7.

“I don’t think she threw that many pitches in seven innings the last time,” Yoder said. “It was definitely something we talked about. We needed to hit our pitches and be more controlled at the plate. We’ve been preaching line drives and ground balls, as much as we can get.”

Arbor View tacked on single runs in the third and fourth innings and led 4-1 entering the sixth. But having seen Feiner’s full repertoire of pitches early in the game, the Aggies took advantage late, scoring three runs in the sixth and four in the seventh.

Dacia Sykes was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs for Arbor View, which had 11 hits, six of them bloops that fell in front of Shadow Ridge outfielders on a day when the wind gusted in from center field.

Marissa Bachman went 2-for-2 with a double, and Kellie Anderson was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs for Arbor View.

Meanwhile, Ashlyn Ames was effective in the circle.

Ames allowed seven hits, and the Mustangs (14-5, 5-3) were 0-for-9 with runners on base. She struck out eight and didn’t allow a walk.

“All of her pitches were on,” Yoder said. “She threw the pitches we asked her to throw. She was on today.”

The Aggies moved into sole possession of third place in the Northwest, one game behind Shadow Ridge but just one game ahead of Spring Valley and Sierra Vista. Every Northwest team has two league games remaining.

“It’s definitely been in the back of our minds,” Yoder said. “Having this win and building momentum slowly and steadily has been another one of our short-term goals.”

Marisa Miano, Maraya Lindo and Taylor Velarde each went 2-for-3 for Shadow Ridge.

Contact reporter Bartt Davis at bdavis@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5230.