Lady Lions roar to four straight wins
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions softball team enjoyed its best week of the season so far, going 4-0, and now looks to keep the momentum going.
Albany (4-1) visited Roby on Tuesday, March 4. Results will be reported next week. At 5:00 p.m. Friday, March 7, Roby visits Albany.
The Lady Lions notched their first win of the season Tuesday, Feb. 25 with a 7-5 victory against Aspermont. Albany then beat Santa Anna, Merkel JV and Eastland JV over the weekend at the Eula tournament.
“It was nice getting into a rhythm, having some consistency instead of having to cancel ballgames or move practices around,” coach Jimmy Fuentes said. “We’re getting in a groove and hope we can stay in it.”
At Aspermont, Albany scored four runs in the fifth inning to come from behind. Carisa Barrera and Gabby Lopez both went 3 for 3 with two RBIs to lead the way. Barrera had a double, triple and inside-the-park home run while Lopez doubled.
Finlee Brown, who doubled twice, and Leah Glick each drove in a run. Madi Parrott, J’Cee Keen, Charli Trail and Kamryn Graham each had a hit.
Barrera struck out 11 and walked none over five innings.
On Thursday, Feb. 27, Albany beat Santa Anna 9-7 with another comeback. On Saturday, March 1, the Lady Lions beat Merkel JV 11-7 and Eastland JV 9-5.
“We don’t want to overload the girls with information, especially the ones who haven’t played before,” Fuentes said. “The first couple of weeks, it was about getting reps in, making contact, throwing and catching. This last week, we concentrated more on knowing what situations we’re in offensively and defensively.”
Against Santa Anna, Barrera singled in three runs in the fifth to lift Albany to a walk-off win. She finished with six RBIs, going 3 for 4 with a double and a triple in addition to striking out nine in the circle.
Parrott, Brown, Keen and Graham each had two hits, while Lopez, Jayden Kelly and Trail each had one.
Against Merkel JV, Parrott and Lopez, who homered, both went 2 for 3 with three RBIs, and Keen was 2 for 2 with two RBIs. Barrera and Kelly also had hits with Trail and Glick each getting one. Barrera again had nine strikeouts.
Against Eastland JV, Albany had just four hits but took advantage of nine walks and four hit batters. Four players had RBIs despite not having a hit.
Keen, who drove in two runs, Barrera, Lopez and Graham each had a hit. Barrera finished with eight strikeouts.
