Members of the Fountain Hills High School softball team found themselves in more than one hole this past week but, through perseverance, the Lady Falcons battled back for two wins.

FHHS’s first game last week was on Monday, April 8, against Valley Christian. The Falcon club beat Valley by a final score of 9-6.

Two days later on Thursday, April 11, Fountain Hills went head to head with Gilbert Christian. FHHS handily won the game 14-3.

Softball has two games this week, one away and one at home. The first game was Tuesday, April 16, away at Coronado.

The next game is Thursday, April 18, at home; a rematch against Arizona College Prep. This will also be the last home game of the regular season and act as the Lady Falcons’ Senior Night. The match will start at 3:45 p.m. at Fountain Hills Middle School.

Valley Christian

The game against Valley Christian got off to a rocky start for the Lady Falcons.

“Sophia Buckley started off a bit wild and walked the first three batters, leading to four runs,” head coach Randy Bragg said. “She settled down and went on to pitch a really good game.”

Entering into the third inning, Fountain Hills trailed Valley 5-1. The Falcons were able to catch up and tie the game with two runs in the fourth and fifth inning.

Defensive errors in the seventh inning by Valley allowed the Falcons to get four more runners across the plate and win the game.

Bragg said he was happy with the way his pitcher handled a setback.

“Sophia did a great job of overcoming her early mistakes and pitching herself out of tough situations,” Bragg said.

Gilbert Christian

Buckley was much more settled with her pitching in the Falcons’ game against Gilbert Christian, holding them to only three runs.

However, the Lady Falcons dugout was much more active, with the local ladies scoring seven runs in the first five innings.

The final nail in the coffin for Gilbert Christian came at the top of the sixth inning when FHHS scored seven runs.

Some of the big hitters for the Falcons included Zooey Lipps, who went 2-3 with an RBI and two runs, Sydney Loyet with two RBI and Kalista Johnson, who also went 2-3 with two runs scored.

Bragg said he was very happy with the effort his team showed this late in the season.

“I really am proud of how the girls are responding to adversity,” Bragg said. “We still make errors but they are battling to overcome them and, I believe, are committed to pick each other up when needed.”