Lady Lions defeat Santo, TLCA in shortened games
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions softball team only took the field one time last week but picked up two wins to even their record.
The Lady Lions (10-9-1 overall, 2-0 District 8-2A) moved above .500 on Tuesday, March 14 with a 16-0 victory over Abilene TLCA. Albany resumes district play at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 21 with a home game against Cross Plains.
Albany was awarded a forfeit win against Gorman on Tuesday, March 7, as the Lady Panthers do not have enough players to play. On Friday, March 10, the Lady Lions defeated Santo 13-1 in five innings in a nondistrict game. The game was moved to Santo because of wet field conditions here.
Lady Lions coach Jimmy Fuentes said being able to add the Santo game was rather serendipitous once district play began.
“We both had open dates in our district, and it just worked out,” he said. “It was a lucky break once we found out Gorman was not going to be with us anymore. It’s important to keep playing and stay in a groove.”
With the second game against Gorman on Friday, March 31 also off the schedule, Fuentes announced the Lady Lions have added a game at Eula on that date. Albany and Eula have district games on Tuesday, March 28 at Webb Park and Friday, April 21 at Eula to finish the regular season.
Against Santo and TLCA, the top third of Albany’s order combined to go 10 of 16 with 14 runs scored and eight RBIs.
“We hit the ball really well these last couple of games and put pressure on the defense to stop us,” Fuentes said. “The girls at the top of the order are doing their job. The people that are supposed to get on base are getting on base, and the people that are supposed to drive in runs for us are doing their part.”
At Santo, Albany pulled away from a 1-1 tie after the first inning as Carisa Barrera drove in four runs at the plate and recorded a season-high seven strikeouts in the circle.
Braylyn Abbate homered, and Haily Cox doubled twice as the Lady Lions totaled 14 hits. Six players had at least two hits and drove in runs.
Cox, who finished 3 for 4, started the game with a single and scored on Barrera’s sacrifice fly. Santo pulled even, but Albany took the lead for good in the second on Gabby Lopez’s RBI double, one of seven extra-base hits for Albany.
The Lady Lions scored twice in both the second and third and put up four runs in both the fourth and fifth. Kaisley Bartee made it a 10-run lead in the fifth with a two-run double.
Barrera allowed one run on three hits with no walks. Two of the hits came in the first as Santo scored its run. The sophomore faced just three over the minimum the rest of the way.
Against TLCA, The Lady Lions needed less than an hour to take care of business with the game being called in the third inning. Albany scored seven runs in the first and nine in the second with every spot in the order scoring at least once.
Bartee scored the only run Albany needed on a passed ball in the first. With two outs, the next eight Albany batters reached base.
With an 11-0 lead and two outs in the second, the Lady Lions had six consecutive batters reach.
Gracie Price went 3 for 3, while Cox was 2 for 3. Cox, Bartee, and Barrera each had a double and two RBIs. Abbate, Lopez, and Madison Parrott each drove in a run.
Barrera faced just 10 batters, one over the minimum, in three innings. She gave up two hits and struck out two.
Fuentes said Barrera and the defense have managed to avoid costly errors that were a problem earlier in the season.
“We preach to the kids to do your job and not extend innings by making defensive mistakes,” he said. “Carisa pitches the ball like we want it, opponents hit it where we want it, and we make the routine plays.”
ALBANY 13, SANTO 1
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
ALBANY 1 2 2 4 4 x x 13/14/1
SANTO 1 0 0 0 0 x x 1/3/3
atbat runs hits RBI
Cox 2b 4 2 3 1
Bartee c 4 2 2 2
Lucas ss 3 3 2 1
Barrera p 4 1 2 4
Abbate 3b 3 1 2 2
McDaniel 1b 4 1 0 0
Kelly rf 3 0 1 0
Lopez lf 3 3 2 1
Parrott cf 3 0 0 0
Totals 31 13 14 11
2B – Cox 2, Bartee, Barrera, Abbate, Lopez. HR – Abbate. SF – Barrera.
SB – Lucas 3, Barrera.
IP H R ER BB SO
Barrera 5 3 1 1 0 7
HBP – Barrera 3.
ALBANY 16, ABILENE TLCA 0
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
TLCA 0 0 0 x x x x 0/2/3
ALBANY 7 9 x x x x x 16/8/1
atbat runs hits RBI
Cox 2b 3 2 2 2
Bartee c 2 3 1 2
Lucas ss 0 2 0 0
Barrera p 3 1 1 2
Price cf 3 2 3 0
McDaniel 1b 2 1 0 0
Abbate 3b 0 2 0 1
Lopez rf 1 1 0 1
Parrott lf 1 2 1 1
Totals 15 16 8 9
2B – Cox, Bartee, Barrera. HBP – Lucas, Abbate. SB – Bartee, Lucas 2, Price.
IP H R ER BB SO
Barrera 3 2 0 0 0 2
