Steve Stockmar West Valley Preps

One big inning and that was it for the Cactus High softball team.

The Cobras, seeded No. 3 in the AIA 4A state tournament, hosted the 6-seed Bullhead City Mohave Thunderbirds in Round 2 of the bracket Tuesday in Glendale and batted around the order in a first inning that ended the game almost as quickly as it got started in Cactus’ 11-0 run-ruled shutout in just five innings.

The Cobras, now 28-4 on the spring, advance to tangle with 2-seed Apache Junction this Thursday in a Round 3 game with a 4 p.m. first pitch at Rose Mofford Complex, 9833 N. 25th Ave. in Phoenix.

Amazingly, all the Cobras’ damage came with two outs, after Mohave starter Daezha Goodloe retired the first two Cactus batters of the afternoon on five pitches.

That changed.

The next nine Cactus batters all reached base safely, and erupted for six runs on four hits. The burst started when 3-hole batter, junior Alynah Torres belted a solo homer on a 2-2 pitch. Fittingly, Torres would also end the game with another homer, when her two-out, two-run jack brought the game to a walk-off end in the bottom of the fifth.

All the offense relegated Cactus head coach Bartt Underwood to spectator hitter by hitter as he coached from the third base box.

"I know my hitters," he said afterward. "I know who runs, who’s a smart runner, who bunts best and all that. So I’m thinking ‘we’ve got two strikes ... and here comes ... and if you don’t have to show them bunting let’s not show it to them ... and then, oooh oooh, this is a perfect squeeze, we haven’t squeezed in I don’t know how many games, we need to practice it in a big game even though we have a lead.’"

The onslaught was helped along by doubles from Emilie Guerra and Nicole Osteen, along with a two-run single by leadoff batter Kaytlin Leyvas on her second at-bat of the inning. The Cobras also drew two walks, two hit-batsman, and reached base via a walk as the parade around the bases eventually chased Goodloe who didn’t make it out of the inning.

"Today was not our game," Mohave head coach Shannon Patterson said. "We didn’t get our job done at the plate, we didn’t get our job done in the field, and we had some trouble in the circle with both pitchers. But when that happens you count on your defense to make plays and we just didn’t get it done today. We were outmatched."

The Cobras padded their lead with back-to-back run-scoring singles from Hannah Difabio and Carson Gambs in the second.

Meanwhile, Cactus ace Bub Feringa was dealing from the pitcher’s circle.

Feringa, who entered the game leading all of 4A in ERA (0.95), allowed just two hits and walked one. She struck out five and didn’t allow a runner past second base all afternoon. Of her last nine batters faced, only one got the ball out of the infield.

The freshman -- who throws righty, bats lefty and also walked, singled and scored two runs while hitting in the 5-hole -- was coming off a 104-pitch Round 1 state playoff win over Saguaro April 28.

She unofficially threw 73 pitches at home Tuesday, and there’s little doubt who will get the call against Apache Junction in Round 3 Thursday at Mofford.

"Whoever I have the most confidence in going into the state playoffs, that’s who’s probably gonna have the ball every game," Underwood said.

Mohave, meanwhile, isn’t done. This part of the state bracket features a double-elimination format, and the T-birds will try and stay alive in their next outing, against 7-seed Casa Grande, on Thursday at Mofford.

Cactus' McKenna Feringa throws a pitch against Mohave on Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at Cactus High School in Glendale. [Jacob Stanek/West Valley Preps][/caption]

The 4A state championship is Tuesday, May 15.

Steve Stockmar can be reached at 623-876-2567 or sstockmar@newszap.com. Continue the discussion at yourvalley.net.