MARYSVILLE — Mia Cantu hit the pitches she wanted Wednesday afternoon.
The Meadowdale High School senior tallied four hits in her four at-bats, sailing two home runs into center field and posting three RBI to help secure the Mavericks’ 12-9 road win over the Marysville Getchell Chargers in a Wesco 3A/2A game.
Cantu’s first homer, which gave Meadowdale the lead, was part of a seven-run rally with two outs in the top of the fourth inning which turned a 4-1 deficit into an 8-4 lead. She also homered in the top of the seventh to complete the Mavericks’ scoring.
“My plate approach was just to get my bat on the ball. If that pitcher threw it anywhere in my zone, I was going to swing hard. And the result was a home run,” Cantu said. “My mindset was base hit, but the outcome was great.”
Freshman Peyton Fry also homered for Meadowdale (11-7 overall, 9-4 league).
Junior Emma Witter slugged a three-run homer for Marysville Getchell (7-9, 5-7).
The game turned dramatically with two outs in the top of the fourth thanks to what Meadowdale coach Dennis Hopkins described as “contagious” ball striking.
Sophomore Madison Mitchell started it with a hit to left field, which drove home sophomore Mackenzie Kim and senior Analise Griffiths to pull the Mavericks within 4-3. The first of Cantu’s home runs in the next at-bat made it 5-4. Fry followed suit with a home run of her own to left field, making it 6-4. Junior Olivia Feistel hit a fly ball to left field for Jaeden Sajec to score, and freshman Hallie Weeks’ line-drive single to center field drove in Feistel, making it 8-4.
Getchell pulled back within two in the bottom half of the inning on RBIs from junior Lilyana Balgos and senior Parker Johnson. But Meadowdale tacked on three in the sixth and one in the seventh to stretch the lead to 12-6. Witter’s three-run shot with two out in the bottom of the seventh brought the Chargers within three, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Mavericks’ defense.
Meadowdale stayed in fifth place in the league standings with two games left to play in the regular season. Getchell dropped to 11th with three games remaining.
“(Marysville Getchell) needed this win (more) than we did to seed themselves into districts. We’re just trying to move ourselves up in the pecking order,” Hopkins said. “It was good (we) came back when (we) got behind a little bit. … Hitting is contagious, and once they started hitting, they go for it.”
Feistel and Sajec combined for seven innings in the circle for Meadowdale, striking out four batters. Aaliyah Shafer pitched seven innings with eight strikeouts for the Chargers.
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