Slip-ups drop Raiders into losers bracket

The first chink in the Raiders' armor came when a low line drive got though Alexis Gorman's legs in the third inning.

The chink became a dent one play later when a fly ball to right field fell out of Isabella Olea's glove.

And after Gorman made it three errors in a row trying to make a tough catch along the first base line, the No. 4 Cibola softball team's defense was clearly broken.

No. 5 seed Tucson-Sunnyside only came away with one run on the Raiders' mistakes, but it wound up being the game-deciding run in a 1-0 win for the visiting team on Tuesday in the second round of the 5A-II State Tournament.

"As a coach, you'll take it," Sunnyside coach Pete Palomarez said. "They're a good ball club and a good defense, and you have to take advantage of those situations."

The loss moves Cibola into the loser's bracket of the tournament, where they will play No. 16 Tucson-Rincon in an elimination game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Rose Mofford Field No. 2 in Phoenix. Rincon beat Willow Canyon 10-1. A Cibola win and a Yuma win in the next round would set up a rematch against the two Gila Valley Region teams on Saturday.

Amanda Martinez scored the Blue Devils only run on the second of Cibola's back-to-back-to-back miscues, running hard from second base with two outs.

"Even though we bobbled the ball at second and dropped the fly ball, we still got another fly ball," Cibola coach Shelly Baumann said. "It's concentration."

The Raiders' offense had no way to make up for their problems in the field as Sunnyside flamethrower Mari Contreras allowed just two hits and struck out 12, a similar line she posted against Yuma High on Saturday.

"We'd seen it earlier in the year, but it's been over a month," Baumann said of Contreras' speed. "We had terrible discipline at the plate. She's a very good pitcher, but we made her look better than she was."

Gorman became Cibola's second baserunner of the game and ended Contreras' bid for a no-hitter with two-out double in the sixth, but was left stranded. After Ariel Olea's leadoff single in the seventh, the Raiders' tried to play small ball and have cleanup hitter Jackie Newbourn bunt, but were doubled up instead as Newbourn popped up to Contreras.

"This is our 30th win in 34 games, so our pitching has held up all season," Palomarez said. "She's got a great curveball and a great change. A lot of time they look at the speed and forget the other pitches, which is an advantage to us."

Ray allowed five hits and struck out five, fanning the side in the seventh. Cibola's defense had a couple calls after their third-inning nightmare, but held up the rest of the way.

"We'd love to play that team again - and that's possible in this tournament - because we know we can beat 'em," Baumann said. "The girls are disappointed. They know what we did and what we didn't do, but they've got a lot of fight in them."