“Arcadia
had a 12‑game winning streak going into the game, so that’s
pretty good,” Cactus Shadows coach Danica Gianni said with a
laugh.
Actually,
Gianni did not get to see Arcadia’s talent first hand because
she was attending a wedding in Chicago. What she would have
seen was her team hanging in against one of the state’s better
teams.
Junior
pitcher Nikki Horton was 3‑for‑3 at the plate, and
tossed a three‑hitter on the mound with eight strikeouts.
“Nikki
put up a good fight,” Gianni said.
But
Arcadia pitcher Paula Liebler put up an even better fight, striking
out 13 batters and giving up only three hits. Arcadia (22‑7)
scored all its runs in the second inning on Ashley Kennedy’s
three‑run triple.
Arcadia
was scheduled to play No. 5 seed Mohave May 9 in a quarterfinal
game.
Cactus
Shadows, meanwhile, is already preparing for next season. Only
two seniors are expected to leave the team and a handful of
returning starters will be back, Gianni said. Among the returners
will be Horton and pitching counterpart Ericka Cedarstrom, the
team’s two best hitters and pitchers. Cedarstrom (.444) and
Horton (.414) each batted over .400 for the season.
“We
have a good part of the team coming back, and some of them are
playing club ball,” Gianni said. “We just need to get the rest
of them playing where they need to play all year round or at
least in the fall or winter, so we’re not back at square one
when we start again (next spring).”
Hitting
was a big problem for the Falcons this year as runs were scarce.
Cactus Shadows was shut out in 13 of its 20 losses, but many
of the losses were close. Of the shutouts, six were by three
runs of less.
“Offense
is going to win the games in softball,” Gianni said. “We had
a lot of shutouts, but those were a lot of games we should have
won.”
The
Falcons hope their returning experience, plus the loss of six
to nine seniors each from Sunnyslope and Bradshaw Mountain,
this year’s top two teams in the region, help the Falcons improve
their record next year.
“We’ll
have a good chance next year for the playing field to be leveled,”
Gianni said. “It should be exciting to watch.”
Gianni
has started to build the program at the early levels. Nearly
30 interested players from Desert Arroyo and Sonoran Trails
middle schools showed up to a tryout last week.
