Lady Cats roll behind Wright

Staff report

RIO RANCHO — Senior A.J. Wright pitched a pair of complete games and had a big day at the plate as Clovis High’s softball team won twice in the consolation bracket of the Rio Rancho Invitational on Friday, beating Gadsden 16-5 and St. Pius 16-8.

The Lady Wildcats (5-5) pounded out four home runs and 29 hits in the two contest, including 18 in the latter tilt against the Sartans.

Wright went 3-for-3 in against Gadsden (6-5) with a two-run homer in the first and a grand slam in the Lady Cats’ seven-run fourth. In the circle, she managed to work around nine Clovis errors in the two games.

First-year coach Freddy Perez said his squad is making strides.

“We’re still making some mistakes in the field and in baserunning, but we hit the ball real well,” he said.

Clovis opened a 9-0 lead against Gadsden with a six-run second, then broke it open two innings later. Mariah Chavez went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored.

St. Pius (1-10), which won its first game of the season earlier Friday, nearly made it two in a row as the Sartans carried an 8-5 lead into the seventh. But catcher Stephanie Gulley put the Lady Cats ahead 9-8 and Clovis went on to post 11 runs in the inning, capped by a three-run homer from Jaren Piepkorn.

Savana Nelson was 4-for-5 with three RBIs and Piepkorn finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs for Clovis, which plays the first of two games today at 11 a.m. against Roswell Goddard.