Vagabond Palo Verde routs Arbor View for 5A Southern title

No matter where Palo Verde’s softball team has called home this season while their field is being renovated, they’ve kept hitting — and kept winning.

After the top-seeded Panthers defeated No. 2 seed Arbor View 14-4 in five innings Friday and claimed the 5A Southern League title on the “home” turf of Durango, they’ve got some hardware to bring back to campus. The win was their third consecutive Southern League championship.

“They came out here, they were ready, they were hungry,” Palo Verde coach Angel Council said. “Arbor View’s a tough opponent, and they came out here ready to go.”

The Panthers (20-1) — who played their regular-season games at Majestic Park, roughly six miles north of their school — hosted postseason games at Durango, which donated the use of its field.

They did their best to make the Blazers’ purple-and-gold outlined field their own. Palo Verde player portraits and a square banner of the school’s logo adorned the outfield wall.

Whether it was the decor or practices at Durango, it worked. The Panthers bashed four home runs Friday — including two by sophomore catcher Halle Law — and batted around in the third inning. The game was called shortly after sophomore second baseman Ava Cruz’s fifth-inning homer landed outside the right field fence.

Senior designated player Samantha Williams finished 2-for-3 with a grand slam and five RBIs. Cruz went 3-for-3, scoring three times.

“Everyone’s coming together,” Law said. “Not having a field can be hard — not knowing the fences and how everything works — but everyone going out there and playing hard helps.”

The Aggies (26-8) struck first, when right fielder Malaya Tellis came home on a double play. Palo Verde responded in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single by senior first baseman Ava Koenig, who has committed to Boston University.

Law launched her first home run the following inning, a two-run shot that gave the Panthers a 3-1 lead. When Arbor View shortstop Madilyn Lowy hit a two-run homer the next inning to tie it up, it looked like the start of another classic between the two schools.

Then Palo Verde’s big third inning happened, starting with Williams’ RBI double. The Panthers plated nine runs that frame, the loudest of which happened on Williams’ grand slam.

Arbor View added one more run in the fifth on a single by second baseman Lilly Easton, scoring Lowy, who finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs. Easton went 3-for-3 for the Aggies, who will join Palo Verde in the 5A state tournament next week as the Southern League’s No. 2 seed.

The Panthers — seeking back-to-back state titles — are the No. 1 seed from the south, facing the No. 2 seed from the north Thursday at Faith Lutheran.