It started out as a pitching duel between Mia Trejo (11-6) and Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage (17-5) but the Division II elimination game held at Amphitheater on Wednesday night turned into a scoring fest with the Lancers coming out on top 13-7.

“Well, it certainly feels good but it was very ugly,” Aguilar-Beaucage said. “Tucson is a great program and Mia is a great pitcher and hitter. She can work both sides and she does it well. We knew we had to hit to win this and my teammates picked me up.”

The loss ended one of the best seasons Tucson (23-10) has had since John Nitka led the Badgers to back-to-back runner-up finishes in 1989 and 1990. The fifth place finish for the Badgers in arguably one of the best divisions in the country may be of little comfort to the Tucson faithful today but, in time, they will look back and realize how special this season was.

“We had a lot of fun this year,” Trejo explained. “I got to play high school softball with my little sister (Freshman Alyssa Trejo). We played club together but playing for school pride meant so much more to us.

“We have all the younger players on our team and I hate to say goodbye,” Trejo added. “We got better every year and I can’t wait to see where they go from here.”

Trejo will be in the circle for New Mexico State next year and Aguilar-Beaucage will be pitching for Grand Canyon and both will bring a healthy bat along for the ride. Trejo finished with 11 home runs on the year and Aguilar-Beaucage had 10. They both went deep against each other.

Salpointe was limited to two hits in the first three innings and Tucson only had one but that all changed in the top of the fourth when the Badgers plated three on an RBI from Arriana SantaMaria and a 2-run single from Iliana Mendoza.

Aguilar-Beaucage went deep in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead down to 3-1. Alyssa Trejo doubled in Vanessa Marmion in the fifth to extend the lead to 4-1 but the Lancers exploded for five in the in the bottom of the fifth.

The Lancers sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning to take a 6-4 lead and seven more crossed the plate in the sixth to give Salpointe a 13-4 lead. Every Salpointe batter contributed in some way in the 12-run outburst.

Still, Tucson was not finished and Mia Trejo hit a towering 3-run shot in the top of the seventh to bring the final score to 13-7.

Salpointe will advance in the Elimination Bracket and will travel to the Rose Mofford Complex in Phoenix to face No. 5 Arcadia Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. The winner of that game will play the loser of No. 2 Ironwood Ridge and No. 4 Cactus Friday night.

Arcadia (32-5) is led by senior pitcher Emily Ingles (30-3). Ingles picked up a 7-2 win over Salpointe in April, collecting eight strikeouts in the process although Salpointe was able to put together eight hits against Arcadia.

“We are preparing for our next game,” Aguilar-Beaucage added.

“This game is over and we need to focus on Arcadia. They took it to us last time but it was the worst game we had all year fielding. It should be a good game this time.”

Arcadia beat No. 3 Sahuaro 10-0 on Wednesday night to set up the game with Salpointe. The Cougars finished 25-12 and Lexy Coons (19-3) is only a junior. In fact, Sahuaro only graduates two seniors.  They will be back.

For Tucson, Marmion went 2-for-4; Mia Trejo went 2-3 with a 3-run home run; Alyssa Trejo had an RBI double; SantaMaria had an RBI single and Mendoza went 2-3 with two RBI.

For Salpointe, Yannira Acuna went 2-5 with a 2-run double; Malaea Baray-Rocha went 3-5 with a triple; Giselle Munoz had an RBI single; Aguilar-Beaucage went 2-2 with a homerun and two RBI; Megan Flores had a 2-RBI double; Diana Montano had an RBI and Frankie De la Cruz had an RBI.