Albany softball starts season after weather delay
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions got their softball season off to a belated start Monday, Feb. 17 with a 9-1 loss to Lipan at Webb Park.
The game against Westbrook on Friday has been cancelled because of weather, but Albany is scheduled to play in the Eula tournament Thursday, Feb. 27 through Saturday, March 1.
The Lady Lions were slated to open the season Thursday, Feb. 13 at the Clyde tournament, but the event was cancelled because of weather.
Lady Lions coach Jimmy Fuentes said missing out on the weekend was not totally detrimental for his young team.
“In our situation, not getting to play last week was probably more beneficial for us,” Fuentes said. “I’d have rather started our season the way we did against a team more our caliber than what we’d have had to play at Clyde’s tournament, bigger school varsities.”
The Lady Lions have 11 players on this year’s roster, most of them returning from last season when Albany struggled to complete the schedule with just nine players.
“The thing is, some of the new girls have never played before,” Fuentes said.
The coach said that puts the focus this season on development and team building.
“My message to the girls after the game was we’re not in a position to worry about the scoreboard right now,” he said. “We’ve just got to worry about getting better each and every practice. All I ask is they just get better every day and every time we take the field in a ballgame.”
Monday’s game was moved to a noon start as both Albany and Lipan were out of school for Presidents Day.
“We were glad everything worked out perfect like that for both schools,” Fuentes said.
Against Lipan, Finlee Brown went 2 for 3 at the plate with Gabby Lopez, Jayden Kelly and Leah Glick each going 1 for 2.
J’Cee Keen drove in Albany’s run with a groundout in the third inning. Madi Parrott reached on a dropped third strike to lead off abd Brown singled. The runners moved up on a groundout by Carisa Barrera, setting the stage for Keen.
Barrera pitched five innings, allowing eight earned runs on 13 hits. She struck out six and walked three.
Lipan scored a run in each of the first two innings, then pulled away with four in the third and three in the fourth.
