Wild! Steele: 17 runs, yet barely hang on

By Adam Paul
Updated: April 30, 2025

2025 EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL

By Adam Paul

GROSSMONT HILLS LEAGUE

STEELE CANYON 17, SANTANA 14 – In one of the wildest Hills league contests in a while as a combined thirty one runs were scored the Steele Canyon Cougars held onto claim the road victory over the Santana Sultans on Wednesday afternoon.

The entire offense for the Cougars would explode starting in the first inning when Payton Sos drew a walk scoring a run, Hailey Trujillo would cause the most damage in the inning as she blasted a grand slam deep over the center field fence, and the other run in the inning came on a sacrifice bunt by Sophia Jackel.

Trailing by a score of 6-0 right off the top the Sultans would answer as they scored four runs in their half of the first inning.

Delaney Smith would drive in both Emma Schneider and McKenna Miller which would be followed by Smith scoring on an error and Samantha Mora grounding out to score Kylee Aziz.

A couple of innings later in the bottom of the third the Sultans would tie the game at 6-6 on a two-run single by Brianna Canty.

Steele Canyon would retake the lead in the top of the fourth inning when Kayala Hopkins drove in a run to make it 7-6.

The Sultans would fight back and retake the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to Kaylee Lindahl who belted a two run home run and Bella Zuckerman driving in a run.

Marina Gonzalez would tie the game in the top of the sixth inning with a two run home run deep to center field.

Steele Canyon would really put the pressure on and break out the runs as they would score eight in the top of the seventh inning on only three hits to take the lead, 17-9. The biggest blow by Cougars came on a three run blast by Azevedo to left field.

Santana though would try their darndest in the bottom of the seventh inning as they were able to push across five runs all with two outs. Their first run came on a wild pitch that allowed Alyssa Cipro to race home and a couple of batters later Ashlyn Darrow belting a grand slam to right field to make it a three run ballgame.

Steele Canyon with the win moves to 10-11-1 overall and 3-2 in league play and a second place tie while Santana falls to 12-8 overall and 2-3 in league and a tie for third place.

WEST HILLS 4, VALHALLA 3 (11 INN.) – In one of the more interesting ways to win a game West Hills slugger Katy Spargo would draw the hit by pitch to score the walk-off game winning run in the bottom of the eleventh inning over the visiting Valhalla Norsemen on Wednesday afternoon.

Valhalla early on would draw first blood thanks to Natalia Marco who would ground out to bring home a run to make it 1-0.

The lead would be short lived as Maddie Aylesbury doubled in a pair of runs for the Pack in the bottom of the inning to give them a 2-1 lead.

Moving to the top of the fifth inning and the score still tied up the Norsemen would on a double by Lily Alvarado would take a 3-2 lead.

Still leading by a single run Valhalla had the first place Wolf Pack on the ropes but that would change when with two outs Aylesbury would line a base hit to center field allowing Kristina Deal to come around from second base and score the game tying run.

West Hills with the win moves to 13-7-1 overall and 4-1 in league play while Valhalla falls to 7-14 overall and 1-4 in league.

EL CAPITAN 2, GRANITE HILLS 0 – Despite being outhit 5-4 the El Capitan Vaqueros behind a strong pitching performance by Makenna Burton would claim the victory on Wednesday over the visiting Granite Hills Eagles.

Burton despite allowing five hits on the day would make things count as she didn’t allow any runners to plate over seven innings of work that saw her walk two and strike out six.

Offensively the Vaqueros made things count and with two outs in the bottom of the second inning would score first on a double by Ciara Bernardini to make it 1-0.

The Vaqueros would score their only other run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Ryleigh Vesco drew a two out walk that allowed Sofia Simone to come home and score making it 2-0.

Kayleigh Baugher opened things up for the Eagles in the circle. On the day she would allow two runs on four hits over four and two-thirds innings in which she walked three and struck out five.

Mia Downes went 3-for-4 on the day to lead the Eagles.

The Vaqueros with the win have now won four in a row and move to 9-11 overall and 3-2 in league play while the Eagles who have now lost three in a row and fall to 6-14-1 overall and 2-3 in league.

GROSSMONT VALLEY LEAGUE

HELIX 15, GROSSMONT 3 (5 INN.) – Fourteen runs scored over the middle innings by the visiting Helix Highlanders lead to a very convincing road victory over the Grossmont Foothillers on Wednesday afternoon.

Early on the Highlanders would lead 1-0 thanks to Nikayla Domingo who hit a ball deep enough for a sacrifice fly to give them the lead.

But Grossmont would take the lead in the bottom of the second inning after Skyler Glover singled up the middle, and Nakhia Lee singled to right field, each scoring a run to make it 2-1.

Unfortunately, the Foothillers momentum wouldn’t last as Helix mnaged to string together three runs in the top of the third inning to lead 4-2. A couple of innings later they would break out offensively with seven runs scored courtesy of Tatiana Hernandez-Ahmu, Neviah Conchas each driving in a run, an error that allowed two runs, and Domingo who doubled in a run.

Lauren Farace who drew the start for the Highlanders would earn the win as she allowed two runs on five hits over two innings of work,

Saraya Roope would take the loss for the Foothillers. The starter would allow fifteen runs on fourteen hits over four and one-thirds innings.

Offensively for the Hillers, Lee, Madison Busch, and Roope each tallied two hits in the game. Driving in runs for Grossmont were Jules Short, Lee, and Glover.

Helix winners of two in a row move to 11-5 overall and 4-0 in league play while Grossmont who have lost two in a row fall to 7-15-1 overall and 3-1 in league.