By Arnie Leshin
St. Michael’s 4-game softball losing streak abruptly ended at Santa Fe Indian School Thursday as the teams met in District 2-3A.
It was a much-needed 8-6 win for the Lady Horsemen of first-year head coach Joe Alvarez. They went in front with a 3-run top of the first and maintained the lead throughout. It got them back in the win column at 6-11 overall and 2-5 in district.
It spoiled the game for the Braves before their home crowd, and knocked their overall record down to 13-7 and district mark to 5-3. The visitors pushed across three more runs in the third to increase their lead to 6-2 after Indian School scored twice in the bottom of the frame.
Following the Braves tying the score at 6-6 in the sixth inning, St. Michael’s responded with three straight hits after the first out in the seventh off the bats of sophomore Autumn Boral and seniors Cia Alvarez and winning pitcher Lynsey Gildewell, and senior Rhiannon Salazar added an RBI single to up the margin by two runs.
A senior right-hander Gildewell and in her fifth year on the team, Gildewell walked the first two batters in the last of the seventh, but then got the next three outs and it made for the short happy ride home.