The Marcos de Niza softball team, with a 10-4 overall and 3-3 section record, is ranked No. 20 out of 47 teams in the 4A conference. The Padres have one young player who has come out to play this season, freshman Leila Rodriguez.
As a batter, Rodriguez leads the team in batting averages at 0.533, in on-base percentage at 0.751, in stolen bases with five, in runs scored with 20, in hits with 24, in slugging percentage at 0.888, and in both doubles, with four, and triples with six. As one of only two pitchers on the team, Rodriguez has started in 10 games where she has won eight, pitching in 65 innings striking out 63 batters while allowing only 73 hits resulting in 44 runs or a 3.66 earned run average.
Marcos’s other pitcher, senior Myreah Uriarte, is two for two in games started and won pitching in 14 innings with an earned run average of 3.00. When batting, Uriarte has scored nine runs with six RBI’s. Junior Daisy Reyes, who plays first base, is the second leading batter on the team with an earned run average of .375 playing in 10 games with an on-base percentage of .444.
Senior outfielder Pyper Hatch is third on the team with an earned run average of .364 playing in 10 games with 10 RBI’s while scoring six runs. Senior Isabella Trujillo, who plays third base, has a .353 batting average, leads the team in RBI’s with 15 on 12 hits in addition to scoring 12 runs.
Senior Carina Matuz has played in every game this season as an outfielder. She has been at bat 17 times where she scored five runs while fellow senior Rachell Russell plays first base. When at bat, Russell has a .444 on-base percentage. Junior Sophia Jimenez has played in every game this season at third base.
At bat, she has six RBI’s on six hits with three runs scored. Junior outfielder Cassanda Medina has scored 11 runs while at bat only 23 times. The Padres have a somewhat young team with three sophomore and three freshman playing on the varsity team.
For instance, sophomore catcher Sophia Franco has played in every game this season. When at bat, she has a respectable batting average of .265 with an on base percentage of .359 scoring eight runs with nine RBI’s on nine hits.
Playing utility, sophomore Charlotte Brandt has scored four runs with an on-base percentage of .400 while sophomore third baseman Ariana Del Rio has scored two runs with an on-base percentage of .500. In addition to Rodriguez, the two other freshmen on the team are Altagracia Wix and Dakota Dunn.
Wix, who plays both catcher and utility, has played in every game. At the plate she has a batting average of .290 scoring five runs on nine hits with five RBI’s. Playing in every game as second baseman, Dunn has a batting average of .257 scoring 13 runs and 10 RBI’s. Marcos had five games left on their schedule to improve their standing before the state championship playoffs including an away game at Saguaro on April 14.
The Padres were scheduled to play at home against Saguaro on April 17, at home against Coronado on April 19 and at Mesquite on April 20. Their last home game is against Mesquite on April 24 when the six senior players, Hatch, Matuz, Trujillo, Jazmin Treto, Uriarte and Russell will be honored.
If the Padres can stay in the top 24 teams in 4A they will have a chance to make it to the playoffs if they win in the 4A Conference Play-In on April 26. If they win that game, they will play in the 2023 AIA Softball 4A State Championship starting on April 29.
