MULBERRY — Lorianys Castanon Cruz is a high-scoring basketball player who averaged more than 30 points per game for her high school career. Basketball, however, isn’t the only sport where Castanon Cruz can take care of all of Mulberry’s scoring needs.
The Panthers’ senior shortstop scored all of Mulberry’s runs in a 3-2 victory over Tampa Champberlain in the Class 3A, Region 3 quarterfinals. The Panthers will play at Dunedin in the semifinals on Tuesday.
The victory was Mulberry’s first playoff win in 13 years.
“We wanted it really bad actually,” Castanon Cruz said. “We’ve been working on ourselves to go to states, so hopefully we go there and win everything. We’ve been wanting this since last year.”
Mulberry’s leadoff batter, Castanon Cruz went to the plate three times, got on base three times and scored three times. In the first inning, Castanon Cruz walked, went to second on a sacrifice, stole third and scored on a Gracie Donalson’s bunt.
Mulberry went up 2-0 in third inning when Castanon Cruz led off with a single then went all the way around and scored on an error.
After Chamberlain cut Mulberry’s lead to 2-1, Castanon Cruz scored a much-needed third run in the fifth inning. She tripled to lead off the inning then scored on a passed ball.
“I’m kind of excited,” she said. “I stepped up for the team. They kind of needed me, and we all work as a team.”
None of this surpised Mulberry coach Monica Villanueva.
“Listen, if you get her on base, she’s going to move it,” Villanueva said. She’s done that for us for four years now, so she’s the leadoff batter for a reason. We know that she’s going to do her job when she gets on the base. She’s good at being smart at the plate. She’s good at base running. She’s good at everything, honestly.”
Castanon Cruz also came through defensively. Chamberlain cut Mulberry’s lead to 3-2 in the top of the sixth on D Bush’s double and looked to add more as there were runners on second and third. E Bradburn then flew out to right, and Jaylyn Oschmann, who earlier in the game made a diving catch to end an inning, threw home to keep the runner at third. Catcher Kensington Danforth. Then threw to second to try to pick off Bush, and the runner on third, I Dominguez, headed home. Castanon Cruz then threw out Dominguez to end the inning.
Freshman pitcher Haylie Hightower got the win. She allowed five hits and on earned run with five strikeouts and one walk. Although a couple of balls to the outfield got misplayed, Mulberry’s defense was solid overall. In addition to Oschmann’s catch in right, center fielder Lylah Jones made a nice running catch, and third baseman A’lejah Washington made a leaping stab off a line drive for the second out in the final inning.
4A-2: Lake Region, Lake Wales will meet again
Lake Region and Lake Wales will play for a fourth time this season when they play in the Class 4A, Region 2 semifinals on May 13. It will be the second time in three years that they will meet in the regional playoffs.
Both teams advanced with one-sided wins as Lake Region pummeled New Smyrna Beach, 10-0, and Lake Wales stormed past Rockledge, 8-2.
Lake Region won the previous three meetings. Lake Region won in the regular season 2-1 and 8-2 then won 4-1 in the district championship game. Two years ago, Lake Region won the first three meetings, but Lake Wales won in the region finals and went on to win its third state title.
In Lake Region’s win over New Smyrna Beach, Makenna Meadows pitched a five-inning no-hitter with 12 strikeouts and one walk. She also singled and drove in two runs.
Kirsten Aldridge had the big bat with a double and triple and drove in three runs. Kailyn Reeder doubled and drove in two runs, and Sophia Rivera also had a pair of RBIs.
Lake Wales and Rockledge were tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. The Highlanders then scored two twice with two outs to take the lead and pull away, freshman Kyra Williams singled home the go-ahead run. Keira Davis followed with an RBI single.
Davis finished with two hits and scored twice. Mattie Cockrell homered and drove in two runs. Pitcher Anna Conroy allowed two unearned runs on three hits with 12 strikeouts.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Softball: Mulberry, Lake Wales, Lake Region advance in regional quarterfinals
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
