The Fountain Hills High School softball team rolled with the punches all season and made the best out of difficult situations. The Falcons beat Scottsdale Christian Academy and won their first non-tournament game on senior night last Monday, April 17.

The Falcons “run ruled” the Eagles and beat them 15-5. The Falcons had a six-run inning that blew the game wide open, and they celebrated seniors Mia Duda, LJ Holland and Alexis Ibarra.

Duda has played all season and plans to play for Golden West College next year. She committed before her senior season started, and Holland and Ibarra joined midway through the year to give the Falcons enough players to keep competing.

The Falcons couldn’t repeat their success at Scottsdale three days later, despite junior Alicia Ibarra going three for three at the plate. The Falcons lost 22-12 on Thursday, April 20.

“We had a huge game on Monday,” interim head coach Chris Peterson said. “We played the game the way it was supposed to be played. We won and it felt good. The girls really vibed with it. I think they wanted to bring that with them today and it just didn’t work.”

The Falcons had a six-game hiatus after a coaching change, and they returned in the middle of their region schedule. The Falcons felt best about their match-ups with No. 35 Scottsdale Christian (2-9), since three of their last five games were against top-10 teams, No. 7 Northwest Christian and No. 9 Bourgade Catholic.

“Obviously, it’s been a really interesting season,” Duda said. “It felt good to win a game, because I know the girls on the basketball team that joined, they were also pretty excited about it, too. We came into yesterday’s game hoping to win, but I think we all got into our heads too much and it just didn’t work out in the end.”

The Falcons played on a unique turf field at Scottsdale Christian. The Eagles play on their school’s football field, and home plate was right where an end zone pylon would typically be. Duda had played on turf before but said the football field was probably the weirdest softball field she’s ever played on.

Peterson said the field reminded him of playing as a kid in an empty parking lot. There was no pitcher’s mound, but he said it all worked out because everyone had the same advantages and disadvantages.

“I always ask the girls ‘what does the umpire say at the beginning of the game?’,” Peterson said. “He says, ‘play ball,’ and I always remind them he doesn’t say ‘work ball.’ I tell them that we are here because we signed up for fun, and that’s what we are going to continue to do.”

Duda said her teammates were able to shake off the loss to Scottsdale within 10 minutes on the bus ride home. The Falcons scored 16, 15, and 12 runs in their last three games, and they only scored 17 combined runs in their first three conference games this year.

“It’s definitely better than how our season first started,” Duda said. “We didn’t even make double digits, but now we are. We’re improving slowly.”

Duda has played softball for Fountain Hills all four years and didn’t expect to have any other senior teammates this year. She thanks all the players that joined mid-way through the year and made it possible to end the year with a senior night.

“It was definitely emotional,” Duda said. “You’ve been kind of waiting for this moment, and at senior night it hits you that you’re graduating this year. It's like you’re moving on too, and you’re not going to play with these girls anymore and it’s sad.”

The Falcons had one more game that they played against Bourgade Catholic after press time on Monday, April 24. They hoped to carry momentum from their games against Scottsdale Christian into their season finale.