CHS softball season concludes

CLOVIS - The bottom of the sixth inning in Game 2 of Monday's Clovis softball season finale seems a microcosm of the Lady Wildcats' season overall.

The fight was there, even if the results weren't.

Clovis lost the first game of Monday's home doubleheader to Sandia 18-1 and was losing the second game 11-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. Worse yet, there were soon two outs and nobody on, moving the Lady 'Cats an out away from being run-ruled consecutively in their last two games of the season.

But then, alive came the Clovis bats. Sophomore Daisy Dodge ripped a first-pitch single to left. Junior Anyssa Casaus smacked a 1-1 pitch for a double to left, giving the Lady Wildcats runners on second and third. Still, though, they were an out away from being run-ruled.

Senior Marina Tapia then prevented that from happening, belting a 1-1 pitch into left field for an RBI single that made it 11-2, guaranteeing that Clovis would get to play a full seven innings in its last game of the year. There was that fight.

Even when Clovis trailed 15-2 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Dodge swatted a two-run single. More fight.

The game's end result was a 15-4 loss, but in a season where examining the positives beyond the final scores, Clovis' play in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings was a big one.

"We hit the ball well and we played defense when we needed to," Clovis coach Brandi Thomas said. "I told somebody the other day that the scores of the games and our record aren't anything that shows a reflection of how we're playing. We hit the ball, but we hit the ball right at somebody. We hit the ball hard, but it's right at somebody. And when (opposing teams) hit the ball, it's not right at us. So it's just one of those things."

Casaus, who will be the team's lone returning senior next season, took away some positives from this one.

"How we play as a team," she said. "There were ups and downs. Even though we knew we were down by a lot, we still had to stay up. So we never let losing affect us."

Five seniors will graduate from the team, leaving a good returning nucleus with plenty of work to do, but eager to do it. Though 2018 was a deja vu of 2017 - a 2-24 season (2-8 in District 2-6A) that included a doubleheader sweep of Santa Fe, Thomas thinks the Lady Wildcats are taking steps forward.

"We can build from this," she said. "We have a young group and we've got a lot of stuff going on this summer. And the committment of the girls is what is gonna keep us going."

Casaus has her opinion about what the team needs to work on during the offseason.

"Not be scared," she said. "Be ready. We know what we're coming into."