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BY BRUCE BOURQUIN
HERALD/REVIEW
MESA — After waking up before 5 a.m., then taking a three-hour bus ride beginning at 6 a.m. on Saturday, all Buena did was turn in the most dominating performance of its young season, in a 10-0 win over Dobson.
The Colts scored three runs in the top of the first inning with just one hit, scored six runs in part due to five errors after four innings and won a game that earned them 50 valuable power points.
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Buena is 3-0 in counting games, and 9-1 including games from tournaments. The victory came after the Colts won their closest game of the season, a 2-1 win at home over Red Mountain last Friday.
“This game was really good for us,” Buena head coach Mike Tomooka said. “Everything was out of the norm of the routine. They came ready to play. They know the importance of these games to try and qualify for state.”
In Saturday’s game, Meghan McIntosh put together her best work of the season in striking out 16 and allowing just two baserunners, both of whom reached on singles and did not get to second second.
McIntosh got Mustangs cleanup hitter Krista Hicks to ground out to second baseman Brianna Jacoby, who filled in for Jordan Trujillo in the first inning, for the third out. Trujillo was out sick.
In the fourth, Hicks popped out to second and in the seventh, McIntosh struck her out.
“Probably my curve ball was my best pitch,” McIntosh said. “Yeah, it was my best job so far this season.”
After a 4 p.m. game on Tuesday at 4A Canyon del Oro High School in Tucson, the Colts’ next game that counts toward power rankings is a 4 p.m. game on March 25 at Sunnyside in Tucson. Sunnyside is the defending 5A Division II state champions.
Between those games is the Nike Fastest to First Classic in Huntington Beach, Calif. At 7 p.m. on Thursday, Buena plays against Santiago High of Corona, Calif.
Nike chose the top 30 teams from around the nation, including teams from Florida, Virginia, Nevada and Texas and several from California and Arizona.
“I think it’s a really good test of where we are,” McIntosh said. “So we’ll see how we stand.”
Alicia Banks brought in all three runs with a double to the left-center gap in the first inning. Melissa Hardy and Ariel Morbeck both reached on errors by Dobson third baseman Kelsey Clark. Shannel Blackshear walked to load the bases with no outs.
“It was hard for us to get up,” Banks said of the early-bird trip. “But we had to get it done. It was a little outside, so I had to wait for it. I had to get it done with the bases loaded.”
Melissa Becker, who on Friday pitched all seven innings in a 5-2 loss to Mesquite, struck out the next three hitters. Becker allowed three earned runs in her second week coming off rehab from a knee injury. She struck out seven, walked six and only allowed two hits over 5 1/3 innings.
Buena scored once in each of the second, third and fourth innings. McIntosh singled with one out, Becker threw one low and wide to first on a bunt by Blackshear, which allowed courtesy runner Erika Bennett to score. The Colts left the bags full, as Carissa Youngblood grounded out to second.
“We left like, seven in scoring position,” Tomooka said. “We gotta get those runs in ... because sometimes, that may be your only chance to get them in.”
McIntosh hustled to erase a potential double play in the third, which plated Jenna Wright, who walked and went to second on a wild pitch.
Morbeck scored on an error hit to left by Youngblood in the fourth. She also drilled a shot in the seventh that scored two runs.
Buena Sports Fan wrote on Mar 9, 2008 10:32 AM: