Cibola bats too much for Yuma

With the season passing the halfway point, the Cibola offense is showing no signs of slowing down.

Melissa Padilla hit a back-breaking two-run home run as the relentless Raider offense carried Cibola to a 10-2 win at Yuma High on Wednesday.

The Raiders reached double figures for the sixth straight game and eighth time in 11 AIA power point games.

But it was close until the fourth. The Raiders (11-0 AIA) were up 3-0 and had a runner at first with two outs. Bethany Olea singled, then a wild pitch put runners at second and third for Alex Roman, who took a pitch from Isabel Villalobos down the third base line. Linda Ontiveros dove into foul territory to try to come up with it, but it got over her for a two-run double.

That's when Padilla followed with her blast to center field and the Raiders went up 7-0.

Coach Liz Huyck said she thought Roman's hit was foul.

“That was kind of a down inning for us as far as our spirit,” Huyck said. “But what are you going to do? You can't have every call go your way.”

The call didn't go Yuma's way, and that set up Padilla's home run.

“She was pitching me inside a lot, and I knew she was going to pitch me a change up,” said Padilla, who scored twice and had three hits. “That's her routine. I've been seeing that. I told myself wait on it and just drive it.”

Yuma High (5-5) allowed 13 hits in the game, 12 by Villalobos, who pitched all but two outs in the fifth inning. Myliah Ramirez added three hits, two runs and an RBI for the Raiders, while No. 9 hitter Grecia Villa had two hits and score twice. Bethany Olea was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

Villalobos had two hits, scored one Yuma run and drove in the other. Yuma High got eight hits off Cibola starter Jackie Pierson. Ivanna Aguirre had two hit and scored for the Crims, and Alicia Stephens also had two hits.

“To beat this team we have to play our best game and be up for the game,” Huyck said. “I don't think we were up and as intense and focused as we need to be to be competitive with anybody. If we come out and play flat against anybody, they're going to pound us.”

The Raiders face Kofa an Saturday, the last time they play either Kofa or Yuma in non-Gila Valley Region action. They've won the first three games by a combined 24-3.

“We are just going from game to game,” Cibola coach Shelly Baumann said. “That's why you play the game — anybody can win in any situation at any time. We tell our girls to focus game to game. We have Kofa Saturday at Kofa. We hadn't talked about them before. We just go game to game. When you play everybody four times, it's what you have to do. You can't get ahead of yourself at all.”