Prep Softball: Nighthawks open Avocado East play with a bang

The Del Norte High softball team did not treat opposing pitchers very nicely in its first week of Avocado East League play.

The Nighthawks scored nine runs in a win over San Pasqual on Wednesday and on Friday they pounded out 16 hits en route to a 13-7 victory over Escondido at Del Norte High School.

The top five hitters in the Nighthawks’ lineup cranked out a combined 12 hits and drove in 10 of the 13 runs against the Cougars. Stanford-bound Haley Cruse went 4-for-5 with three doubles and two RBIs and Emily Scioscia had three hits and three RBIs to lead the way.

The Nighthawks, playing in the Avocado East for the first time, were blanked by Ramona 10-0 just before the start of league play. But they have responded with two offensive outbursts. The 13 runs Friday is the second most Del Norte (7-8-1, 2-0) has scored in a game this season (15 against El Camino on April 3).

It looked like the Nighthawks were going to run away with the game early, but Escondido rallied from a 4-0 deficit through two innings to take a 5-4 lead in the top of the fourth.

Del Norte did not get rattled, though, batting around in the bottom of the fourth and plating five runs to take a 9-5 lead. Scioscia, Bryn Burrows, Anne Marie Prentiss and Taylor Carr all drove in runs in the inning.

The Cougars crept to within 10-7 in the top of the sixth when Xzarria Simmons and Carly Compton stroked back-to-back RBI singles. But again the Nighthawks answered, this time scoring three in the bottom half of the inning.

Camryn Smith had an RBI and Cruse smacked a two-run double off the wall in centerfield to extend the lead to 13-7. Melissa Abrahmian, who relieved started Prentiss in the fifth, closed the door in the seventh.