Canyon @ Esperanza 5-3

[oldNlazy]

The battle for 1st place in the Century League turned a bit anticlimatic when Canyon made 4 1st inning errors and spotted Esperanza a 3 run lead they could never overcome. Haley Copeland pitched one of her best games of the year, not allowing a baserunner until the 6th inning. Her rise was particularly effective and she had Comanche hitters swinging and missing and popping up all day. In fact Canyon didn't hit a ground ball until the 7th. Hilburn was good too but wasn't able to match Copeland. Both pitchers finished with 9 strikeouts.
Canyon 0 0 0 0 0 1 0=1-2-4
Esperanza 3 0 0 0 3 0 x=6-6-1
Hilburn vs Copeland
It wasn't an auspicious start for Canyon when Copeland struck out the side in the 1st but things were about to get worse. Castro led off the bottom of the 1st with a walk followed by a rare Lauren Young error. But Hilburn struck out both Roth and Schroeder on changeups and was just about to get out of it when a line drive to the right fielder turned disastrous. First she dropped it for a run then a bad relay allowed the batter to go to 2nd. Maciel singled to RF for a run and another run scored when Rock misplayed the ball. Nothing much happened in the middle innings except Schroeder ripped a double off the wall. In the 6th ESperanza did it all on their own. Griffiths singled up the middle, Roth was hit by a pitch and Schroeder walked to load the bases. With 1 out Maciel walked to force in a run and with 2 outs Riggs provided the final nail in the coffing with a 2-run single to RF. After 5 1/3 innings of perfect ball, Copeland hit consecutive batters and with 2 outs Betschel dropped an RBI-single just over the 2nd baseman's head. In the 7th Stowe hit one to deep center that the CF couldn't handle. It could have gone for a triple or a 3-base error but Hilburn didn't worry. She just struck out the next 2 batters to end the game.