Albany to play in Clifton tourney
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions went 3-3 in their second tournament outing of the season Friday-Saturday, Feb. 24-25, reaching the consolation finals at the San Angelo tournament.
The Lady Lions (5-6-1)play their final tournament this weekend at Clifton. The tourney features a round-robin format with teams seeded for a final game.
On Thursday, March 2 (today), Albany plays Clifton and Moody. On Friday, March 3, Albany will face Hico, Comanche, and Belton. Teams will be matched based on their records from the first five games for a game on Saturday, March 4.
At San Angelo in Friday’s pool play, Albany rallied to defeat Bangs 4-2 before falling 15-2 to Forsan and 9-3 to Midland Christian. In Saturday’s bracket, the Lady Lions came from behind twice to beat Canadian 6-4 and Ozona 5-4 before a 7-0 loss in a rematch against Bangs.
“We really liked the way that tournament was structured,” Lady Lions coach Jimmy Fuentes said. “We were able to get a lot of games in.”
The one downside, Fuentes said, was a wave of minor injuries that left the team at less than full strength.
“We’ve only got 10 girls and a few of them were banged up,” he said. “We’ve had to try some kids at different spots, which we were doing anyway, but now it’s on a need-to basis. Hopefully we’ll be healthier for the Clifton tournament.”
Against Bangs, Albany scored three runs in the fourth after trailing 2-1. Robin Lucas and Carisa Barrera singled with both scoring on an error. Gabby Lopez added an RBI single.
Lucas went 2 for 2 and Barrera 2 for 3. Barrera also had an RBI single in the first inning. Lopez finished 1 for 2.
Barrera pitched four innings, allowing one earned run on four hits. She walked three and struck out three.
Against Forsan, both Albany runs came in the first. Haily Cox went 2 for 2 and Alli McDaniel was 1 for 1 with an RBI. Barrera worked three innings, allowing two earned runs on 12 hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Albany committed 11 errors, leading to 13 unearned runs.
Against Midland Christian, Barrera doubled and drove in a run. Kaisley Bartee and Lucas each had singles, while Gracie Price had an RBI. Barrera pitched three innings, giving up four earned runs on 10 hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
In bracket play, Albany used a three-run fourth to rally past Canadian. Cox tied the game with a single, Bartee doubled in the go-ahead run and Barrera added an RBI double.
Barrera finished 3 for 3 with three RBIs and Bartee was 2 for 2 with two RBIs. Cox, Lopez, Jayden Kelly, and Madison Parrott each had a hit.
Barrera worked four innings, allowing one earned run on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
Against Ozona, the Lady Lions trailed 4-0 in the third before rallying. Lucas doubled in two runs and scored in the third, then doubled in the winning run in the fourth. Bartee also had an RBI.
Lucas finished 3 for 3 with two doubles and three RBIs. Cox and Bartee also had hits.
Barrera struck out six over four innings. She allowed four earned runs on six hits with two walks.
Fuentes said the comebacks were a bright spot for the weekend.
“That’s what’s good about tournaments,” he said. “You get put in a lot of different situations in a short time. Having to play from behind was one of those situations, and we had the opportunity to see how the kids responded.”
In the rematch against Bangs, Albany had just four hits, one of which was erased in a double play. McDaniel was 2 for 2 with Cox and Barrera each getting a hit.
Barrera did not allow an earned run in five innings, giving up eight hits with a walk and three strikeouts.
Fuentes said facing Bangs twice helps in preparing for district play, which opens Tuesday, March 7 at home against Gorman.
“You have to play everybody twice in district, so we treated it like that,” he said. “We picked up some tendencies from Game 1 and tried to work out those tendencies in Game 2. That gave us a jump on that kind of preparation.”
