First inning propels Glendale softball to rivalry win over Hoover
GLENDALE — It took all of one-half inning for the Glendale High softball team to settle city supremacy in its Pacific League clash with host Hoover on Thursday.
The Nitros sent 14 batters to the plate and scored nine runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back in a 14-0 five-inning victory.
With the win, Glendale improved to 11-3-1 and 4-2 in league, while Hoover fell to 1-9 and 0-5.
“A nine-run first inning definitely changes the game,” Glendale coach Chris Funaro said. “We’ve been making sure we take good pitches and we’ve been working on making sure we don’t try to go outside the zone. My first four batters all stayed at home and didn’t reach for anything. We got hits and walks and pushed across those runners.”
Nearly everyone in Glendale’s lineup turned in a productive afternoon, as the Nitros scored 14 runs on 13 hits.
Leadoff batter Kylee Lousararian finished with two hits, three runs batted in and a run scored, while Esme Piedra tallied three hits, three runs and two RBI, Alyssa Wilson totaled two RBI and two runs scored, Jaime Harris chipped in with two RBI, Viviana Bocanegra drove in two runs and Amanda Gonzalez knocked in two runs.
In the first inning alone, Glendale’s first eight batters reached safely. In the inning, Harris and Gonzalez connected on two-run singles, Bocanegra converted two one-run singles, Wilson and Lousararian added scoring singles and Alyssa Sinisterra contributed a run-scoring fielder’s choice.
In the first, the Nitros were the beneficiary of two singles that got caught up in the gusty 20-mile-per-hour winds that wreaked havoc on anxious outfielders. A pair of other singles also changed directions and, according to Hoover coach Rich Henning, the complexion of the game.
“Those were easy fly balls under normal circumstances and all outs,” Henning said. “That totally turned the game around. We started down, 9-0, and just never recovered. We absolutely could not recover against a good team that took advantage of every mistake we made.”
Glendale finished with a 9-0 lead after one half inning and extended its advantage to 11-0 with two runs in the third on a fielder’s choice from pitcher Aurora Funaro and a sacrifice fly from Wilson.
The Nitros added two more runs in the fourth to go up 13-0 thanks to a two-run double from Piedra, while the game’s final run came in the fifth on a pinch-hit single from Andrea Chacon.
On the flip side, Aurora Funaro was sharp in the circle, as she scattered two hits over four shutout innings with nine strikeouts. Harris struck out two in a scoreless fifth.
Hoover’s offense consisted of singles from Catharine Villasenor and Olivia Jukes.
