Girls close out first half with win
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions split a pair of District 8-2A softball games last week as the district schedule neared the midway point.
On Tuesday, March 28, the Lady Lions (12-10-1 overall, 4-1 district) hosted Eula, winning 1-0, and closing out the first round of district play with the first of back-to-back games against the Lady Pirates. Details will be reported next week.
After an open date on Friday, March 31, created by Gorman’s inability to field a team, Albany will visit Eula at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, originally the Lady Lions’ district bye.
On March 21, Albany beat Cross Plains 14-7. That was followed on Friday, March 24, with a 16-6 loss to Cisco in a matchup of the district’s only 2A members. Against Cross Plains, the Lady Lions came from behind twice before pulling away. Against Cisco, two errors helped the Lady Loboes strike for eight runs in the first inning. Albany finished with 10 errors in the game.
“I think we had a bit of problem with nerves in the Cisco game, and I anticipated that because we’re such a young team,” Lady Lions coach Jimmy Fuentes said. “You can’t start off slow with Cisco. We’ve got a lot of young players who figured out what it’s like being in a big ballgame like that.”
Against Cross Plains, the Lady Lions trailed 1-0 in the first and 4-3 in the third but took command with four runs in the third and five in the fifth.
Robin Lucas went 4 for 5 with three doubles and two RBIs, while Braylyn Abbate was 2 for 3 with three RBIs. Haily Cox also drove in two runs. Carisa Barrera, Gracie Price, and Madison Parrott each had a hit and an RBI.
Barrera pitched her first seven-inning complete game, allowing six earned runs on six hits. She walked five and struck out eight.
Against Cisco, the errors were too much to overcome. Instead of being retired in order, the Lady Loboes took advantage of the extra outs to collect six hits, including a home run, two doubles, and a triple.
The Lady Lions did score three runs in the bottom of the first, but Cisco led 15-3 in the fourth.
Barrera allowed only two earned runs on 13 hits. She struck out six in the five-inning game.
Down 11 going into the bottom of the fifth, the Lady Lions put themselves in position to extend the game, loading the bases with one out. After Lucas struck out, Barrera lined out to end the game.
“We did battle back from a slow start, but in the end it just wasn’t enough,” Fuentes said. “Hopefully, we’ve got a feel for what Cisco’s like now and we can make adjustments for the next time we meet them.”
Following next week’s game at Eula, Albany will start the second half of district play Friday, April 7 at Abilene TLCA.
“I send the same message every year,” Fuentes said, “I don’t care what happened the first go-round. The second half of district has to be better against everybody no matter how the first round went. That’s our goal and what we need to concentrate on.”
ALBANY 14, CROSS PLAINS 7
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
CROSS PLAINS 1 0 3 1 0 2 0 7/6/3
ALBANY 3 0 4 0 5 2 X 14/10/1
atbat runs hits RBI
Cox 2b 4 1 1 2
Bartee 3b 4 2 0 0
Lucas ss 5 3 4 2
Barrera p 4 1 1 1
Price c 3 1 1 1
Abbate 1b 3 2 2 3
Kelly rf 3 0 0 0
Lopez lf 0 2 0 0
Parrott cf 1 2 1 1
Totals 27 14 10 10
2B – Lucas 3, Parrott. HBP – Lopez. SB – Price, Abbate.
IP H R ER BB SO
Barrera 7 6 7 6 5 8
WP – Barrera.
CISCO 16, ALBANY 6
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
CISCO 8 3 2 2 1 x x 16/13/0
ALBANY 3 0 0 2 1 x x 6/9/10
atbat runs hits RBI
Cox 2b-ss 3 1 2 1
Bartee 3b-c 4 1 2 1
Lucas ss-3b 3 1 1 0
Barrera p 4 1 2 1
Price c-2b 2 0 1 2
Abbate 1b 3 0 0 0
Kelly rf 2 1 0 0
Lopez lf 1 0 0 0
Parrott cf 3 1 1 0
Totals 25 6 9 5
2B – Barrera. SB – Bartee, Barrera
IP H R ER BB SO
Barrera 5 13 16 2 2 6
