BEAUMONT — The script flipped hard from last week to this week for the Yucaipa and Beaumont softball teams.
That was great news for only one.
Yucaipa, frustrated by a pair of one-run losses last week, climbed back into a share of the Citrus Belt League lead with a 5-0 victory Tuesday afternoon. That set the stage for a dramatic three-game sprint to the end of the regular season.
“We had good energy this game, everybody was up and we were hitting the ball hard,” Yucaipa coach Alyssa Liu said. “And she (sophomore Brooklyn Dent) was pitching great.”
Dent put the brakes to a runaway Beaumont offense that had scored 53 runs in the previous four games, shutting out the Cougars (10-9 overall, 5-2 in league) for the second time this season.
“We just have a hard time hitting her, and I know a lot of other schools that have a hard time with her, too,” Beaumont coach Paul Mays said. “She’s just a good thrower. She has good movement and good spin.”
Beaumont had a couple of hits in the first inning before Dent pulled the plug on the Cougars’ offense in the middle innings. At one point, she retired 10 batters in a row, striking out seven, on the way to 14 strikeouts.
Changing speeds and working all over the plate, Dent had Beaumont’s batters off-balance, logging five strikeouts in six at-bats against the Nos. 3 and 4 hitters.
Pitchers for both sides dealt with what appeared to be a stingy strike zone, resulting in Dent throwing 126 pitches and Beaumont pitchers 146.
“The batter’s boxes were really far away from the plate,” Yucaipa catcher Makenna Pettey said. “It made the plate look really huge to throw to. His strike zone was really small.
“My end was just keeping was just keeping Dent calm, even when he (the umpire) missed one.”
Pettey struck the biggest blow at the plate, clearing the bases during Yucaipa’s four-run second inning. It was a frustrating inning in the field for Beaumont, with two misplayed grounders and a clean single loading the bases after the first two hitters were retired.
A sinking liner off Pettey’s bat then fell in front of right fielder Akayla Lewis and skipped between her legs. Peyton Seevers followed with a run-scoring single.
The Thunderbirds (14-9, 5-2) added to the lead in the fifth on a single by No. 8 hitter Reese Menjivar, her third hit of the game. Yucaipa got four hits, two runs and an RBI out of the bottom two slots in the order.
“The bottom picked it up,” Liu said. “It takes a team to win.”
For Beaumont, the loss had a familiar feel.
“A lot of our losses this year have been because of that one bad inning,” Mays said. “Our defense kind of fell apart there.”
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