Carlsbad leadoff hitter Courtney Williams beats out an infield single Friday as the throw to Clovis first baseman Anissa Carrell is a fraction late.

Clovis senior Felicia Aguilar third baseman spears a line drive off the bat of Carlsbad's sophomore Catherine Romero in the first inning of Friday's District 4-5A doubleheader at Lady Wildcats Field.

Clovis shortstop Jessenia Martinez spears a line drive in the hole.

If nothing else, the Clovis High softball team made a little noise Friday night.

Outscored 56-2 in the first three District 4-5A meetings against Carlsbad this season, and trailing 9-1 in the second game of Friday’s twin bill at Lady Wildcat Field, Clovis punched over four runs on five hits in the fourth inning gain the top-ranked Cavegirls’ attention.

Not for long, though. Carlsbad steadily pulled away, winning 14-5 behind two homers and eight RBIs from senior third baseman Lizzy Castro to complete the sweep after winning the opener 15-0 in five innings.

At least the Lady Wildcats had the satisfaction of taking the Cavegirls the distance in the second game. They lost 24-0 and 17-2 — both games ending in the third inning on the 15-run rule — on April 9 at Carlsbad.

“Clovis has improved a bunch,” veteran Cavegirls coach George Frederick said. “I thought they played much better than they did the first time.”

Carlsbad, though, was simply too much. The Cavegirls (22-3, 7-0 district) were held scoreless until the third in Friday’s opener, then extended a 2-0 lead with a six-run fourth and a seven-run fifth.

Junior Mary Jo Granger worked four innings in the circle for the win in game 1, with Adrianna Vargas finishing up.

Center fielder Courtney Williams and left fielder Cat Romero, batting first and second, went a combined 7-for-10 with nine runs scored in the second game. Williams hit the second pitch of the game from Andrea Romero for an inside-the-park homer, starting a four-run first.

Castro was 5-for-5 in the nightcap. She doubled home a run in the first, hit a three-run homer in the second, poked an RBI single in the fourth, cranked a leadoff homer in the sixth and added a two-run single in the seventh.

The Cavegirls, who scored in each of the final 10 innings, had 16 hits in the opener and 22 in the nightcap, with nine doubles, one triple and five home runs.

Clovis (5-20, 0-7), which has dropped 12 in a row since winning twice in a tournament at Las Cruces in mid-March, chased Carlsbad second-game starter Breanna Johnson in a fourth inning that featured a run-scoring triple by Amanda Wagener, an RBI single by Lyndsi Leclear and a two-run triple by Felicia Aguilar. Vargas, a senior, got the last out of the frame, then allowed two singles to start the fifth but, helped by a double play, retired the final eight Lady Cats in order.

“We use her as a reliever, but she could start for most teams,” Frederick said. “We’ve got three good pitchers and any one of them could throw well, but she’s an important part of our team.”

Lady Cats coach Brandi Thomas said her team tried to throw caution to the wind against the Cavegirls.

“We played really good down at Hobbs (in a doubleheader loss last week) and I thought the light switch came on for us,” Thomas said. “We had a good practice yesterday, and we decided, ‘We have nothing to lose; let’s just go all out.’”

The Lady Cats had hits in all but one inning in the opener, leaving the bases loaded in the first. Three times in the second game, they had two hits in an inning without scoring.

“That’s the best team in the state right there,” Thomas said of the Cavegirls. “They can hit the ball; you have to give them credit.”