Wolf Pack comeback comes late
- Updated: March 11, 2022
2022 EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL
By Adam Paul
CHULA VISTA (3-10-22) – Trailing by a pair of runs late in the contest the West Hills Wolf Pack would tie things up and take the lead for good when Samiya Wright (2-4, 2R, 2 RBI) singled in both Lily Youngdale (1-2, R, 3 RBI) and Ava Goodman (2 R) which would spur them to a 17-9 victory over the Otay Ranch Mustangs in Hilltop Tournament action on Thursday afternoon.
Early on the Wolf Pack would lead 2-0 when Youngdale would draw a walk to bring in Emily Byrd (2-4, 3R, 2 RBI), and later Naomi Kai (3-4, 3R, 2 RBI, SB) would race home on a wild pitch.
Otay Ranch would answer with a run in the bottom of the first inning and later three more runs in the bottom of the third inning to lead 4-2.
But the resilient Wolf Pack wouldn’t go down without a fight as they went to business in the top of the fifth inning starting with back-to-back one-out singles by Alyssa Thornton (3-4, 3 R, 2 RBI) and Kai, the next batter Youngdale would drive in Thornton and Kai would score to tie the game up on a Marina Morales (3-5, 2 RBI) base hit.
Later in the inning with two outs and now leading 6-4 the Wolf Pack added more as Emily Byrd drove in a run, Thornton again came up and drove in a run to make it 8-4, Kai followed with a base hit that scored Chiara Burgin (RUN) and Byrd would advance to third and come into score on an error. West Hills would add a final run when Morales would drive in Thornton to give them an 11-4 lead.
West Hills wasn’t done though as they would do more damage in the top of the sixth inning behind an RBI single by Byrd, a couple of batters later Kai would drive in Amaya Angeli, and later in the inning Faith Balestreri (1-3, R, 3 RBI, 2B) would clear the bases as she ripped a double scoring Thornton, Kai and Goodman to extend the lead even further 17-4.
The Mustangs would make a mini-comeback with multiple hits including a pair of doubles but Youngdale would get the final out on a ground ball to end things.
