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ANAHEIM — The Canyon softball team defeated its neighborhood nemesis and Orange County’s most dangerous hitter on Thursday to take charge of the Crestview League race.
Jordan Simmons allowed one unearned run on five hits, Sam Gresham hit his second homer this week and Kendall Nevin drove in three runs as the Comanches beat Esperanza 7-1 at visiting Canyon High.
Canyon (19-4, 4-1), ranked third in Orange County, held Florida-bound slugger Taylor Shumaker to a single and a walk to avenge a 1-0 loss to the Aztecs n°10 (11-9, 2-2) in the first round of the championship.
Shumaker, who leads the state with 16 homers, was the difference in last month’s matchup by hitting an opposite-field homer off Simmons.
If that wasn’t enough for Thursday, Esperanza beat Canyon in two of the teams’ three championship games last season en route to the outright title.
“Esperanza is a great program and we needed to get rid of that monkey,” said Comanches coach Jess Carbajal, whose team opened a one-game lead at Crestview.
“It was more about proving it to ourselves and saying, ‘Hey, you do the work, you prepare and you know what you need to do,’ and it’s done.”
Left-handed Simmons certainly played her part in defeating Charley Duran, who shut out Canyon on March 19.
The junior committed to Brown struck out two and walked one en route to a complete game.
In her matchups against lefty Shumaker, Simmons walked the first, forced a groundout to second base in the third and gave up a single in the sixth.
“She’s a great pitcher,” Shumaker said of Simmons. “She turns the ball very well. Sometimes it’s difficult for a pitcher who spins the ball to get there on time. This is something we need to work on. We need to make sure we can time it for the next game.
Gresham, a junior committed to Dartmouth, hit a solo home run in the first inning to give the Comanches a 1-0 lead. The explosion came a few throws after Duran appeared to tempt Gresham into fouling, but the ball fell away to keep the attacker alive.
Canyon scored three times in the fourth and fifth innings.
Sophomore third baseman Sophia Sandoval (2-for-2) singled on the go-ahead run in the fourth. Two batters later, Nevin delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded. The Portland State commit added an RBI groundout in the fifth.
Nevin, who plays left field and batted eighth, was one of only two seniors in Canyon’s starting lineup.
“We have a great group of girls with a lot of potential,” Simmons said. “We definitely have a lot of talent that has developed over the years, which has really helped us get our name out there. »
The depth of the Canyon may soon be tested. Shortstop Jade Diaz (hand), first baseman Irma Urincho (illness) and right fielder Maya Valenzuela (jaw) each left the game Thursday.
Esperanza’s Juliette Beltran tied the score 1-1 in the fourth with a single that drove in Jenna Gober, who had two hits.
California Daily Newspapers
