PREP SOFTBALL ROUNDUP : Taylor’s One-Hitter Paces Garden Grove

Evidently, the Garden Grove League softball schedule maker wanted to cut through some of the window dressing early this season, and the two favorites, Kennedy and Garden Grove, met in the league opener Tuesday.

The matchup proved as close as expected.

Garden Grove opened defense of its league title with a 1-0 victory over the Fighting Irish at Mark Twain School in Garden Grove.

The Argonauts (2-0), ranked fifth in the county, scored in the bottom of the third inning, and right-hander Kim Taylor made it stand with a one-hitter, earning her second victory of the season.

Designated hitter Tara Paig led off the third for Garden Grove with a walk and moved to second on Autumn Gwinner’s sacrifice bunt. After Kelly White struck out, center fielder Stephanie Mareina lined a hit to center field, scoring Paig.

Mareina had the only two Argonaut hits off Kennedy right-hander Lisa Pitt (2-2), adding a single in the first.

After struggling with her control in the first inning, Taylor settled down and wasn’t hit hard until the fifth inning, when Mareina made a running catch of an Erryn Gutjahr shot to the gap in left-center field and shortstop White made a back-handed snag of an Angie La Carte liner to the hole.

It was Taylor’s third consecutive victory over Kennedy in the past two seasons. She struck out seven and walked two. Pitt had five strikeouts and two walks.