Marysville forces finale

Tressa Arostegui went 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead Marysville past Peach Bowl of the District 2 Minors Softball All-Stars Tournament 15-13 on Monday night.

The win forces a final and decisive game tonight at Peach Bowl park. First pitch is 7 p.m.

Throughout the tournament, Peach Bowl rolled over every opponent standing in its way with outstanding defense. That included Marysville just three days ago.

However, Marysville scored nine runs in the top of the first as Peach Bowl committed two costly errors. Peach Bowl made seven errors in the game.

"I've never seen them make that many errors before ... and we were able to take advantage," said Marysville coach Sue Arostegui after the game.

Peach Bowl starting pitcher Paris Smith didn't help the defense as the first four batters she faced reached base without a hit. Smith lasted only a third of an inning allowing seven runs.

Marysville led 10-3 going into the bottom of the third when Peach Bowl finally began to make some offensive noise. Andrea Hazel reached on an error, Samantha Thomas walked and Sydney Weaver was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

After Samantha Neher flied out and Delaney Clancy struck out, it looked as if Peach Bowl would go down quietly once again. But Taylor Hungrige walked to bring in a run, and the big blow came when hot-hitting catcher Shelby Carpenter hit a two-run single.

Kelsey Smith added another run, drawing a bases loaded walk, making it 10-7. Brandy Gilliam relieved starting pitcher Aleah Thomas with two outs in the inning.

In the top of the fourth, Marysville responded with three runs of their own as Tressa Arostegui hit a two-run single and Gilliam added a two-out RBI base hit to make it 13-7.

After the four-run third, Peach Bowl could barely get anything going as Gilliam allowed no hits and just three walks. Peach Bowl went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of fifth.

In the top of the sixth, Marysville scored the biggest runs of the game when center fielder Amanda Collier hit a two-run single to make it 15-7.

In the bottom of the sixth, it looked as if the game was all but guaranteed with two outs already recorded. But Peach Bowl showed it's heart was still beating for one final two-out rally.

Sydney Womer scored on a wild pitch, and Breanna Trexler and Smith each had two-run doubles. Hazel added an RBI-triple to make it 15-13 before Sue Arostegui made a visit to the mound to calm Gilliam.

After the visit, with Samantha Thomas at bat representing the tying run and the crowd on their feet, Gilliam calmly got Thomas to hit into a routine groundout to end the game.

Marysville got to the championship round by defeating Sutter Area 7-3 on Sunday night. Tressa Arostegui pitched the complete game for the win and knocked in two runs. Collier added two RBIs in the win.

Appeal-Democrat sports assistant Anthony Nelson can be reached at 743-0512. You may e-mail him at anelson@appeal-democrat.com