The Fountain Hills High School softball team split a pair of games over spring break week.

On March 11 the Lady Falcons played their first game against Benjamin Franklin High School. FHHS won the game 17-7.

Two days later on March 13, Fountain Hills went up against Paradise Honors and lost a tough game by a final score of 20-1.

The Lady Falcons have two games and a tournament lined up for this week. The first game was Tuesday, March 19, a rematch against Payson.

Today, March 20, the Lady Falcons are playing a home game against Pusch Ridge Christian Academy starting at 4 p.m.

The Chandler Prep tournament is away on Friday, March 22, with the Lady Falcons first going up against Mohave Accelerated starting at 9:30 a.m.

Benjamin Franklin

Head coach Randy Bragg said that he felt the team’s first game over spring break went well.

“(Ben Franklin) threw three different pitchers at us, so our girls had to adjust to each one,” Bragg said. “The last two we only saw an inning apiece, but the first pitcher we were able to hit well off of.”

Despite Ben Franklin scoring two runs in the first inning for an early lead, the Lady Falcons brought in nine runs at the top of the second inning to take control of the game.

“Gabbi Coughlin is red hot right now,” Bragg said. “She was 2-4 with two RBI. Sophia Buckley had a good game at the plate, 2-3 and a RBI. Gianna Barker, who has such a great swing and as a freshmen just needs a little more time to get used to this level, went 3-4 with three RBI.”

One area that Bragg knows the team needs to improve in is the errors players make on the field.

“Our biggest issue right now is just errors,” he continued. “It just keeps these other teams in games and the other teams get extra opportunities to pile on runs. I don’t want to make excuses, like saying we’re young, it is something that we have to figure out.”

To Bragg’s point, Fountain Hills’ pitcher, Sophia Buckley, only allowed three earned runs in the 17-7 game.

Paradise Honors

This is Paradise Honors first season playing in the 3A Division after being moved down from 2A. A majority of the team’s wins this season have been blowouts, as the Fountain Hills game turned out to be.

“Paradise Honors are a very good 3A team,” Bragg said. “If you look at their record they have been beating up on some of the big schools. I guess we were just next in line.”

The game started well for the Lady Falcons, who were able to move Sydney Loyet around the diamond for their one run of the game.

“I felt pretty good, but then (Paradise) could just really hit the ball,” Bragg said. “They’d hit the ball in the gaps and then we’d relax. We made some errors that extended innings when we should have been out.”

Aside from working on errors, Bragg said he has the team focused on the future.

“My hope is that these games prepare us for region play, which will start next week,” he added. “We have not played any region games yet and I think my goal as a coach is to have these games, tough or easy, prepare us mentally and physically in the region. That is the mentality that the girls have, too.”