Santa Fe rides ace’s arm, late offensive burst to top Angleton

Clinging to a 1-0 lead over five innings against No. 9 Angleton, the third-ranked Lady Indians finally forced the action to put together a six-run sixth to fuel a 7-0 high school softball victory on Friday night.

“In the end, it comes down to executing all the time. We had some big key bunts that they had trouble handling and got us going,” said Andrew Whittington, Santa Fe’s head coach. “They had a few big hits in the bottom of the sixth, that kind of put them away.

“I’d like it to be a little earlier so we don’t stress so much.”

Early on, in the middle, and late, though, was reliable standout pitcher Sidne Peters, who scattered two hits and struck out 15 Lady Wildcat batters.

Up 1-0 in the top of the fifth, Peters walked two and hit another batter to load the bases with two outs before inducing a soft liner to Avery Duncan at third base to bury the threat.

Santa Fe, now 3-0 in District 18-5A and 19-1 overall, then threw a couple of sixth-inning jabs at Angleton which set up a pair of knockout punches.

Lefty KK Torres opened the frame with an infield hit toward the shortstop hole and Mea Slayton was hit by a pitch before Duncan laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt which Angleton misplayed to load the bags.

Shelby Fraser followed with a run-scoring infield hit and ninth-place hitter Mikayla Nations smoked a two-run single to centerfield to make it 5-0.

After Makenna Mitchell walked, Mikayla Pruitt capped the offensive burst with a two-run single to left for a 7-0 edge.

In the top of the seventh, Peters just needed 10 pitches to record her final two strikeouts and a liner to Torres in left field to end the game.

The Lady Indians now have not lost in 17 straight games — 16 wins and a tie — and will travel to rival Friendswood for the first of their two district meetings on Tuesday. Angleton fell to 15-6, 0-2 in district play.

“Obviously, pitching kept us in the game and really, the bottom of the lineup won the game for us tonight,” Whittington said. “They got some key hits and bunts for us. We executed down the stretch.

“With our pitcher, she’s going to keep us in a lot of our games. She pitched her butt off. Getting out of bases loaded was huge.”