This was serious, she surmised. After all the sweat she and her teammates put into reaching the Senior Little League softball Western Regional championship round at Malach Field, their season was in jeopardy in the first inning.
The pain never did go away. But neither did Sanchez. She pitched Southern California to a 2-0 win over Northern California Tuesday night, forcing a do-or-die Game 3 Wednesday morning at 10:30.
“I was scared,” said Sanchez, who pitched through a bad ankle sprain and the pressure of elimination after her team dropped Game 1 Tuesday afternoon, 4-2.
“I was like, ‘No, I have to finish this game. I haven't even started pitching.' I have to do it. I got in the dugout and they wrapped me. While the pain was still there, I was just clearing it out of my mind.”
This week marks Sanchez's final opportunity to reach the Senior League World Series since she is 16 years old. In an odd sort of way, her injury helped relieve some of the tension of the moment.
“It did for me at least,” said the personable power pitcher, who allowed just four hits in seven innings and benefitted from flawless defense. “I was able to come out here for that first inning (of pitching) having fun. I really didn't warm up as much. But I was having fun.”
Northern California opened the door for SoCal to knot the series after Sanchez lived on an error in the top of the first inning. Bubba Rae Chavez then doubled to left field, drawing a throw to third that resulted in Sanchez's baserunning injury.
With two outs, Nicole Aboytes drove in what proved to be the only run Southern Cal needed on a worm-burner single between third base and shortstop. Teammate Ryan Gregg added an insurance run on a solo homer to left in the second inning.
“We came here to Missoula before and we were stopped here, so we all want it this year,” Sanchez said. “I think we're going to come out and we're going to be ready (Wednesday).”
Southern Cal was in need of a pitching “stopper” after Northern California pounded out 14 hits in its Game 1 victory. Savannah Guevara earned the pitching win for NoCal, allowing just four hits.
Local fan interest was minimal at Tuesday's games. Yet Renny Malach, the Montana District 2 administrator for Little League and a catalyst in bringing the regional event to Missoula several years ago, says there are benefits to hosting the tourney.
“One of the reasons to get the higher profile tournament here was to get more interest in the program (locally),” Malach said. “It has created a lot. Not as much as we'd like to see. But that was the idea - maybe create more interest for girls who want to participate more in the regular season and then form all-star teams.
“I'm retiring, so it's going to take some other people to decide whether they want to continue on with it. If you want it, you could get it again.”
One of the best parts of Malach's job is taking compliments from visiting teams.
“Every year, and again (Monday), some of the teams that lost out came up to me and said, ‘We hope you have it again next year. We look forward to coming to Missoula because you treat us like family,' ” he said.
“That makes it worthwhile.”
Game 1
SoCal 001 010 0 - 2 4 0
NoCal 300 100 x - 4 14 1
W - Savannah Guevara. L - Celeste Martinez.
Game 2
SoCal 110 000 0 - 2 4 0
NoCal 000 000 0 - 0 4 6
W - Evelyn Sanchez. L - Gabrielle Hawkins.
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