Providence softball overcomes cobwebs to earn win against St. Monica

Glendale — Four weeks into the softball season, Providence High hadn’t played a game prior to Tuesday’s nonleague contest with St. Monica Academy.

Injuries, illness and weather problems forced the Pioneers to reschedule or cancel their first six games of the season.

In contrast, the Crusaders came into Tuesday’s matchup with five games under their belts, including an Omega League contest.

Providence looked like a team that was taking the diamond for the first time in the early going, striking out 12 times in its first 13 at-bats against Crusaders starting pitcher Yamila Evans.

But the Pioneers finally broke through in the fifth inning and, with the aid of some St. Monica miscues, went on to claim a 5-0 victory at the Glendale Sports Complex.

“It’s nice to get our first win of the season, but it was also nice to finally get on the field and be able to play against somebody,” Providence Coach Joel Curtis said. “It has been a crazy beginning of the season for us and for our team to go out and get a win after not playing at all is a big accomplishment.

“It was tough for us in the beginning because we hadn’t seen live pitching until today. And it was also tough to go against a hard-throwing pitcher. It was just hard for them to be aggressive at the plate and that showed early on.”

Evans, who ended with 19 strikeouts and just three hits over seven innings, was in complete control early on. Through four innings, she struck out 12 of the first 13 batters she faced, and the only Providence baserunner reached on an error.

Unfortunately for St. Monica (4-2), it couldn’t get to Providence starter Sophia Jimenez. Jimenez, who went six innings, allowing just two hits and striking out seven, had a no-hitter through five innings.

“This is a young team, half of our team is freshmen and some of these players have never played softball before,” St. Monica Coach Barry Evans said. “We made some running mistakes and we made some errors that we’ll learn from and hopefully we won’t make them later in the season.

“Our league really isn’t that strong, so we would rather play teams like this that are a little more advanced so we can get the competition. A game like this is good for us.”

Providence finally broke through with a run in the fifth inning. Francesca Maravilla (three stolen bases) began the frame with a single through the right side for the first hit of the day off Evans. Maravilla then stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. She scored on a single to shallow center field from Sarah Cox.

The Pioneers tacked on four more runs in the sixth inning, two coming on passed balls and one on a wild pitch. Christy Hoffman drove in the other run on a triple to center field.

Jimenez worked into the seventh inning, where she began the frame by giving up a hit to Sophia Vega and hitting Yesenia Vega, who was plunked twice on the day. With runners on first and second, the Pioneers brought in freshman Cielo Monzon. Monzon notched a strikeout, induced a groundout and got another strikeout to end the threat and the game. Of the nine pitches the freshman threw in the ninth, seven went for strikes.

“It was a little rough for me at first because I was kind of nervous being this was our first game and I hadn’t pitched,” Jimenez said. “But after a couple of innings I started feeling better. I just got a little gassed there at the end.

“I was a little tough for us because this was supposed to be our seventh game, but we were able to pull through.”

St. Monica also had runners in scoring position in the second, fifth and sixth innings, but couldn’t score.

Kayla Grimm had the Crusaders’ other hit, a single to right field in the sixth inning.

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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com

Twitter: @jefftsports