The 250 people in attendance at Widefield Parks & Recreation let out an audible gasp as the softball smacked Elexiyah Montoya’s right hand at third base.

Although in pain from the sting of the ball crashing into her hand, it didn’t stop the Mesa Ridge sophomore from securing the bag.

Montoya tagged third base and left a pair of Gladiator runners stranded at first and second to help the Grizzlies earn an 8-6 victory over rival Widefield on Wednesday.

“It hurt, but it felt really good to make that play,” Montoya said. “Especially being the last out and against our rivals. That was huge.”

The Grizzlies (12-4) now have 12 consecutive wins against the Gladiators (11-4) and have not dropped a contest to their district foe since 2016, when Widefield earned a 6-2 win.

But Grizzlies coach Albert Bustillos knew Mesa Ridge wouldn’t cruise to a victory against this version of the Gladiators.

“We’ve been playing Widefield for the last 10 years or so, and we’ve put it on them in the past,” Bustillos said. “But I knew coming into this game that they were going to be hyped up and ready to go. They had a good team last year, and they brought back a couple of stars this year. I knew it was going to be a battle. I told the girls: If they hit, we gotta hit.”

Those words ignited Lillian Staszesky, who finished the game 3 of 4 with four RBI and three runs for the Grizzlies.

Staszesky opened the first inning with a two-RBI home run to center field and gave the Grizzlies a 3-0 lead, which they never relinquished.

“It was the third pitch, and it was right down the middle,” Staszesky said. “It was a line drive, and I knew I could hit it.”

The Grizzlies built a 6-2 advantage and appeared ready to pull away from the Gladiators, but Taylor Hall and her Widefield teammates refused to fold.

Hall hit a homer in the third that cut the lead to 3-2 and, after the Grizzlies built a 7-4 lead, the Gladiators junior hammered a shot to the left field fence that helped Olivia McEwen and Isabella Monk score to cut the lead to 7-6 in the bottom of the sixth.

Bustillos had an answer to extinguish the heater the Gladiators found late in the game.

“When they get excited and start going a little fast, that’s when I take a trip to the mound to slow things down,” Bustillos said. “It doesn’t work all the time, but in situations like that, you have to go in there and slow them down a little bit.”

Mesa Ridge tacked on another run in the seventh to build an 8-6 lead, but the Gladiators had two runners on base with two outs on the board.

Before the final at-bat, Staszesky told Montoya to scoot closer to the foul line at third base, because she figured the upcoming hit would hug the stripe.

“I was pitching outside and hoping to get the ball to go that way,” Staszesky said.

It did, and Montoya managed to make the play to save the ball and stopped Widefield from potentially knotting the game at 8-all.

“I’m all right; I’ll be fine,” Montoya said. “I kept telling (Staszesky) to pitch strikes … and I told her if she keeps pitching strikes, we’re right here behind her.”

Mesa Ridge and Widefield will conclude their home-and-home games with a contest Thursday at Mesa Ridge, where the Grizzlies look to expand their win streak to 13 over Widefield.

The Gladiators, who entered Wednesday’s matchup having won eight consecutive games, had outscored their opponents 111-37 during their streak.

Their six runs in the loss to Mesa Ridge mark just the fourth time this year they’ve scored in the single digits.

“This is a big win for us,” Bustillos said. “We know we’re not going to shut down Taylor, we just have to contain her. … She had good hitters behind her (Wednesday) who Lillian could contain. We’ll have to manage that again. But this was a great team effort.”