Gomez Makes Progress at Canyon

Krista Gomez is giving it the All-American try at Canyon High.

One of the nation’s top softball players when she helped Arizona win three national championships from 1993-96, Gomez is trying to bring new life and stability to a program that has had four coaches in four seasons.

So far, the results have been mixed.

Canyon lost a Foothill League game to Hart, 3-0, on Tuesday at North Oaks Park in Canyon Country, dropping the Cowboys to 8-11, 1-4 in league play.

“But she’s done such a great job with this program,” said Coach Cathy Giordano of Hart, also in her first season. “She’s going to turn this program around.”

With a starting lineup that includes three freshmen, four sophomores and two juniors, time is certainly on the Cowboys’ side.

“Yeah, but I’m young too, and I sometimes have problems being patient enough,” said Gomez, who was an assistant at Arizona in 1997, when the Wildcats won another national title. “I can’t wait for them to get to where they want to be, where they can be. They’re closer than a lot of people think.”

On Tuesday, they were little match for right-hander Amanda Fortune (7-1) of Hart, who struck out nine, walked none and allowed five singles to record her third consecutive shutout.

Shortstop Kristin Lueke had three infield singles for Hart (13-4-1, 4-1), ranked No. 8 in the region by The Times, which took advantage of errors to score three unearned runs.

In the second inning, Kortney Downen of Hart walked, Sara Dean singled and both scored when shortstop Aimee Nava mishandled a sharp grounder by Casey Pickard.

Becky Bowen singled with two out in the fourth, advanced on an error and scored on a wild pitch for a 3-0 lead.

This wasn’t the first time Gomez, an Alemany High graduate, and Giordano have been on opposite sides.

In 1996, Gomez made a game-saving play to preserve Arizona’s 6-4 victory over Washington in the NCAA championship game.

Giordano’s daughter, Jeanine, was a freshman first baseman for Washington.

Giordano’s other daughter, Nicole, is a sophomore at Arizona.