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The Tulare Western High softball team made good on its word.
Brianne Hardman stranded the potential tying run at second base in the top of the seventh inning by striking out the No. 4 batter as the top-seeded Mustangs held off No. 2 Golden West 3-2 for the Central Section Division II softball title Thursday.
"We were looking forward to it all year," Mustangs coach Steve Bullock said. "At the first practice we had this year, the girls told me they were going to win Valley and they came through. They did what they said they were going to do."
Tulare Western (27-7) scored the eventual winning run in a two-run fifth-inning on Chassitti Arriola's bases-loaded single.
Golden West (22-13) rallied late in the game, scoring in the sixth to slice the lead to 3-1. An RBI single by Jessica Duran made it 3-2 in the seventh, but Hardman's sixth strikeout of the game ended it.
"It was two teams that were on a roll and something had to give," Golden West coach Stephen Green said. "We unfortunately made some errors and they capitalized."
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