Carson High softball splits with McQueen

After failing to protect a big lead in the first game of Friday’s doubleheader against McQueen, Carson softball coach Carlos Mendeguia didn’t talk to his team about the meltdown.

It proved to be a good decision.

The Senators shook off the disappointment of the 11-8 loss by pounding out a 15-5 win in the nightcap for a split of their Northern 4A doubleheader.

“Mentally I felt we broke down,” Mendeguia said. “Errors just killed us; mental errors and physical errors. We had an 8-3 lead with Jailene in the circle, and we should have been able to defend that.

“We didn’t address it right after (the first game ended). We talked about it as a staff, and decided against it. We wanted to see how the kids would bounce back.”

And, the Senators responded in a positive fashion in the second game. Carson trailed 5-4, but scored three in the fourth and eight in the fifth to win via the 10-run rule. The game-winning run scored on a wild pitch.

The big second-game comeback started innocently enough when Nicole Brown was hit by a pitch to start the fourth and replaced on the basepaths by Lauren Hawkins. Kailee Luschar walked and Kedre Luschar lined out to center. Jailene Salciedo singled home Hawkins to tie the game at 5. Kailee Luschar and Salciedo worked a double steal giving Carson a 6-5 lead.

Lauren Lemburg bunted home Salciedo to make it 7-5. Amaya Mendeguia flied out to end the inning.

Carson put it away in the fifth with the aforementioned eight-run explosion on just four hits. The big hit was a 3-run opposite-field homer by Mendeguia that made it 14-5. It didn’t take long for Carson to get that much-needed run to end the game.

Kassidy Cooley singled, moved to second on a wild pitch and reached third when Faith Bigelow’s groundball was misplayed. Cooley scored the final run on a wild pitch.

Cooley led the offense in the second game with three hits, and Kailee Luschar, Brown and Salciedo added two hits apiece.

Mendeguia was impressed by the way Salciedo finished the game after giving up a 3-run homer to Lauren Zimmerman in the first and a run-scoring bunt single by Rylee Miller in the second. She allowed just three hits and a run over the final three innings.

“She is a horse,” Mendeguia said. “She got stronger as the game went on. She fought through.”

Carson took an 8-3 lead in the opening game with five runs in the fourth, two coming on a double by Jailene Salciedo and two on a single by Mendeguia.

McQueen stormed back with seven runs in the top of the fifth, four coming on McKayla Webber’s grandslam, to take a 10-8 lead. Kiera Escalante hit a solo homer in the sixth to extend it to 11-8.

Carson put runners on second and third in the sixth, but Mendeguia and Cooley struck out to end the inning. In the seventh, the Senators loaded the bases on a single by Kailee Luschar, a fielder’s choice and a walk to Salciedo. Cam Quilling was retired to end the game.

Mendeguia and Lemburg had three hits each in the opener and Salciedo added two.

Carson is off until next Thursday.