By Don Ketchum

Phoenix Xavier Prep’s softball team continues to make a push for the top seed in the Division I state tournament that begins on April 28.

The Gators, No. 1 in power points entering this week, ran their record to 23-1 with a 10-1 dismantling of visiting Catholic rival Phoenix St. Mary’s on Monday (April 16).

Xavier was not going to have much time to enjoy Monday’s win over No. 16 St. Mary’s. The Gators travel to face Chandler Basha, the No. 4 team in power points, in an even bigger game on Tuesday (April 17).

Xavier did most of its damage in the first two innings. It scored four runs on five hits in the first inning and put three more runs on the board with three hits in the second.

Center fielder Megan Ward figured prominently in those two innings and again in the sixth, when the Gators scored their final three runs.

She drove in a run in the first inning with a slow-rolling infield hit, slugged a two-run home run in the second and brought home two more runs in the sixth with a bloop double.

Pitchers Natalie Both and Katy Watson combined to limit St. Mary’s (12-10) to five hits and struck out seven. Three of the hits came in the seventh, but the Knights could not score, and by then, the game was out of reach.

Both, the starter, pitched just the first three innings, with coach Bobby Pena allowing her to conserve some of her energy, presumably for Basha.

St. Mary’s scored its run in the fourth. Alyssa Madrid led off with a walk and later came home on an infield hit by Knights pitcher Jordan Huffman.