Bernalillo softball takes another home doubleheader, two comebacks against Sun Devils

BERNALILLO — Between last week’s Monday mashing and now Tuesday theatrics, Spartans softball has notched back-to-back doubleheader sweeps.

Against the Espanola Valley Sun Devils, Bernalillo won both contests 8-6 and 13-5.

While it was a successful afternoon on the diamond, it didn’t start that way. EV opened up game one with a 4-0 lead, including a three-run first inning.

It was all Sun Devils until senior Bella Perez got to work. Bernalillo’s leadoff hitter went 3-for-3 with a solo home run and a triple in the first game of the day, setting the table for the rest of the order to bring her home. Perez would come around to score three times.

Behind her, the 2-3-4 hitters combined to go 4-for-11, including a two-hit, three-RBI showing from cleanup hitter Calandria Montoya.

In the pitcher’s circle, the Bernalillo staff settled in after the Devils' 4-0 start. 

Montoya, adding on top of her great day at the plate, would come in after starter Kylee Herrera. In 4 ⅓ innings of work, the senior finished with seven strikeouts on six hits and two earned runs, earning her a third win on the season.

A three-run third and four-run fourth inning would be enough to get the Spartans to the finish line, holding off Espanola Valley and outhitting them 11-8 in the 8-6 victory.

Some heroics at the plate gave Bernalillo the matinee victory, but the Spartans' biggest feat would come in game two.

Another hot start from EV put Bernalillo in an early hole until, in the bottom of the fifth, trailing 4-3, the Spartans would explode for a 10-run dagger of an inning.

Eight hits, including four extra-base knocks, would be the knockout punch to the Sun Devils on Spartan Alley. A monstrous fifth frame included a two-RBI double from Montoya and RBI triples from Dinea Bowman and Bella Perez, all adding to a 16-hit performance from the red and silver.

Montoya would get the nod to toe the rubber again in game two, and she kept the momentum going, tossing six innings with six strikeouts on three hits and two earned runs.

Is there something in the air on afternoons in Bernalillo? Or is the Spartans' offense the real deal? Either way, Bernalillo will look to bottle up its recent firepower, now sitting at 5-3, with district play on the horizon.

After one last nondistrict tournament, the Spartans will begin play in 4A-6 with a home matchup against Hope Christian on March 31.