Lady Lions dominate in first district outing

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lady Lions opened the District 8-2A softball schedule Monday, March 14 with an 18-2 victory over Cross Plains at Webb Park.

After taking the rest of the week off for spring break, the Lady Lions will host May at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 22 in their second district outing.

“I thought we played well overall against Cross Plains,” coach Jimmy Fuentes said. “We hit the ball well. We’ve been facing some pretty stout pitching, and that got us ready to hit the ball strong in our first district game and score a lot of runs.”

Albany (4-11-1 overall, 1-0 district) closed out nondistrict play Tuesday, March 8 with an 11-6 loss against Breckenridge. It was Albany’s second loss to the Lady Buckaroos following a 15-0 setback on Feb. 22.

A game against the Abilene Cooper JV scheduled for Friday, March 11 was cancelled because of weather.

Against Breckenridge, the Lady Lions battled back from an early 5-0 deficit to close to within 5-4 and 7-6 before the Lady Buckaroos scored four runs in the sixth inning, hitting two home runs.

Ana Balliew went 1 for 4 with two RBIs for Albany. Ashlyn Holson and Robin Lucas both went 3 for 4, while Sara Smith was 2 for 4 with a double.

Holson and Smith each drove in a run.

Also getting hits for Albany were Carisa Barrera, Ansleigh Garcia, Kam Browning, and Haily Cox, who doubled.

Balliew pitched five inn­ings, giving up six earned runs on 13 hits. Barrera worked two innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits.

Against Cross Plains, the Lady Lions led 3-1 before scoring seven runs in the second inning. Albany then ended the game with eight runs in the fourth.

“We put the ball in play and made Cross Plains play defense,” Fuentes said. “We were pretty much error-free on defense. The pitching staff did a good job, and we were pretty solid on defense.”

Nine Albany players had hits, and eight had RBIs.

Balliew drove in four runs, finishing 2 for 2 with a double and a triple.

Lucas was 3 for 4 with three RBIs, Holson was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and Braylyn Abbate was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs.

Smith doubled with an RBI, and Barrera, Garcia, and Gabby Lopez each had a hit and an RBI. Cox also had a hit.

Balliew went the distance in the circle, allowing two runs on five hits. She struck out three batters.

Fuentes said the big benefit from the game was being able to empty the bench.

“Everybody got to contribute,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of tournament games where we had time limits. We want the older players to get as many reps as they can when we’re playing bigger schools and  that doesn’t give a chance to substitute a whole lot.”