The Arizona Western College Lady Matadors Softball team (23-11, 15-3) pushed its winning streak to seven games with a doubleheader sweep of Yavapai (10-13, 10-6) on Tuesday afternoon at Charlie Dine Softball Field, winning game one 5-3 before shutting out he Roughriders in a 5-0 win in game two.
Kaity McLaughlin went 3-for-3 with a walk and an RBI while Jayleen Espinoza drove in three of the Lady Matadors’ five runs in the 5-3 win to open the doubleheader.
Arizona Western opened the scoring in the first inning, scoring a run on an Espinoza single before making it a 2-0 lead in the second inning thanks to a McLaughlin RBI single. Jessie Garcia hit her fifth home run in as many games to lead off the bottom of the third inning and give the Lady Matadors a 3-0 lead.
Espinoza added a pair of runs in the fourth inning by smashing a double into left-center field that scored two runs to extend the lead to 5-0.
Yavapai scored three runs in the sixth inning and threatened in the seventh, loading the bases before Garcia was able to get a double play on a line out and get out of the inning to secure the win.
Valerie Joaquin went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs batted in and McLaughlin doubled and drove in a run in the Lady Matadors’ 5-0 win in game two.
The game remained scoreless until the fourth inning when McLaughlin ripped a double down the right field line to score Joaquin to give the Lady Matadors a 1-0 lead. Madison Morgan added a second run with an RBI single.
Joaquin doubled the lead in the fifth with a two-run double and Espinoza drove in the fifth run with a sacrifice fly. Lili Vigil German threw seven shutout innings, striking out three batters in the win.
The Lady Matadors head on the road on Saturday, April 6, taking on Pima in an ACCAC doubleheader beginning at Noon.
