Gondini’s hit helps Gorman softball to marathon win over Durango

Bishop Gorman softball coach Kevin Smith probably wasn’t expecting an extra-inning game when his team took a 13-5 lead over Durango in the fourth inning Thursday, but the longtime coach settled for all the dramatics in a slugfest between league rivals.

Hannah Gondini hit an RBI double down the left-field line to score the go-ahead run in the ninth inning, and the Gaels hung on for a 14-13 road win over the Trailblazers in a Southwest League game that had a combined 36 hits.

“They just found a way to win,” Smith said. “We played in a bunch of games in California this season where we found a way to lose. So I just congratulated them out there.

“(Durango) has some really good hitters, so it was never over.”

Winning pitcher Samantha Stanfill led off the ninth inning with an infield single for Gorman (9-12, 3-3 Southwest) and was replaced by pinch runner Kasey Billadeau, who advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Reyna Martin.

As Martin was called out at first base on a bang-bang play, Billadeau rounded second base and slid beneath a tag at third.

Leadoff hitter Sierra Dias grounded out to third base before Gondini’s two-out hit.

Gondini, who finished 3-for-6 with a double and two RBIs, drove a 1-and-2 pitch to left field to swing momentum back to the Gaels, who hadn’t scored since the fourth inning.

“The most important pitch of that at-bat was the one before where she fouled it out of play,” Smith said. “To take a pitch outside, in the middle of the letters down the line, was huge. That was big.”

Durango (11-16, 2-5), which trailed 13-12 entering the bottom of the seventh, tied the score on an RBI single by Mykayla Cutone to send the game into extra innings, but went scoreless in each of the eighth and ninth innings.

Kaitlyn O’Hearn singled to start the bottom of the ninth, but was doubled up on Alia Armstrong’s attempted sacrifice bunt that was caught by a charging Billadeau at third base.

“Coaching 20 years, I’ve seen a few of these games,” Smith said. “As a coach, you always like those close ones. These are the type where anything can happen.”

Jasmine Gibson was 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI for Gorman, and Morgan Blanner went 3-for-5 with a home run and five RBIs for the Gaels, who had 16 hits.

O’Hearn and Armstrong each had four hits for Durango, which got four RBIs apiece from Mallory Lawson and MyKayla Cutone.

O’Hearn and Lawson each hit two-run homers for the Trailblazers, who finished with 20 hits.

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow him on Twitter: @af_ferguson.