Faith Lutheran senior Macen Collura went 4-for-4 with a go-ahead grand slam in the fourth inning, leading the Crusaders to a 9-8 victory over Palo Verde on Wednesday at The Meadows.
Collura, who was hitless in Monday’s loss to the same team, also tripled and drove in five runs. His grand slam on a 1-0 pitch put Faith Lutheran ahead 8-5. “All I was trying to do was just win the game for my team,” Collura said.
The Crusaders (14-10, 7-1 5A Mountain League) added a run in the fourth on a first-and-third play to make it 9-5. Palo Verde (18-7, 3-3) scored twice in the fourth on sacrifice flies and rallied in the seventh. Reliever Sawyer Violand loaded the bases with one out, and sophomore Leighton Canarelli entered to get a slow roller and a strikeout to preserve the lead.
“Canarelli, he’s just been building all year, doing a really good job of being in the zone and being competitive,” Faith Lutheran coach Dave Anderson said. “He plays other sports. He’s a good golfer, he’s a soccer player on our soccer team, so he’s been in moments in other places.”
Rookie Shepard went 2-for-2 with an RBI, and Eli Leone and Luke Stringer each had two hits. Jameson Day hit a solo home run. For Palo Verde, Keimani Johnson was 3-for-3 with two RBIs, and Owen Anderson had a home run and four RBIs. Luke Jefferies went 3-for-4 with two runs.
