Lady Lions head into playoffs
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lady Lions dropped their final two softball games of the regular season to Cisco and Eula and will enter the playoffs this weekend.
The Lady Lions (15-13-1 overall, 7-4 District 8-2A) will face Hawley in bi-district. Game 1 of the series will be played at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27 (today) at McMurry. Game 2 will be played at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 28 at the home of the winner of Thursday’s game. Game 3, if necessary, will start 30 minutes following the conclusion of Game 2.
On Tuesday, April 18, the Lady Lions lost 15-0 at Cisco. On Friday, April 21 Albany lost 8-7 at Eula.
Against Cisco, Albany ran into a hot pitcher in the Lady Loboes’ Hannah Rogers, who fired a one-hit shutout.
The Lady Lions started the game with reason for optimism when Kaisley Bartee walked and stole second base on the next pitch. Rogers then retired the next 10 batters before giving up Haily Cox’s one-out single in the fourth inning.
Lady Lions coach Jimmy Fuentes said the team continued working together in an effort to get more production.
“We always say we have to talk together and communicate,” Fuentes said. “You just have to give the Cisco girl credit. She was vastly improved from the first time we saw her.”
Robin Lucas was charged with five earned runs on seven hits over 3.1 innings. She walked six and struck out one.
Against Eula, Fuentes said Albany did a good job of bouncing back in a game that was very similar to Albany’s visit on April 4. In both games, the Lady Lions took an early lead, fell behind and regained the lead on a Braylyn Abbate home run, only to have the Lady Pirates rally to win in the bottom of the seventh.
Abbate finished 3 for 4 with four RBIs, hitting a two-run homer in the sixth and doubling in a run in the seventh as Albany pushed its lead to 7-4. Gracie Price was 3 for 4 with an RBI triple during Albany’s three-run first.
Jayden Kelly, who singled in a run in the seventh, and Gabby Lopez both went 2 for 4, while Bartee, Cox, Lucas, and Caroline Chapman each had a hit.
Lucas was charged with two earned runs on five hits over 6.2 innings. She walked eight and struck out three.
“Our lesson after the game was it hurts to lose, but don’t dwell on it,” Fuentes said. “We played better than we had the last two ballgames and kept the errors down. We made some errors early, but we didn’t let it snowball on us.”
Fuentes said the game was the kind the Lady Lions can expect to see in the postseason.
“An inch here or there, a play here or there, and we could have had a different outcome,” he said. “We were able to handle adversity better and bounce back from it, get some timely hits, and get ourselves back in the ball game.”
Fuentes said Albany will face a strong test in Hawley (17-10), the third seed from District 7-2A.
“That district is the toughest in the region,” he said. “All four of their playoff teams are talented and athletic. The UIL is not kind to us in that we have to face that district the first round.”
Fuentes said the series is an opportunity for his younger players to gain experience in a playoff setting.
“There’s no substitute for experience,” he said. “However this comes out, it’s going to be a good experience for us.”
CISCO 15, ALBANY 0
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
ALBANY 0 0 0 0 x x x 0/1/8
CISCO 6 1 4 4 x x x 15/7/0
atbat runs hits RBI
Bartee 3b 1 0 0 0
Parroltt cf 2 0 0 0
Cox ss 2 0 1 0
Lucas p 2 0 0 0
Price c 2 0 0 0
Abbate 1b 1 0 0 0
Kelly rf 1 0 0 0
Lopez lf 1 0 0 0
Chapman 2b 1 0 0 0
Totals 13 0 1 0
SB – Bartee.
IP H R ER BB SO
Lucas 3.1 7 15 5 6 1
WP – Lucas 2. PB – Price 4. HBP – Lucas 2.
EULA 8, ALBANY 7
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
ALBANY 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 7/14/5
EULA 2 1 1 0 0 0 4 8/5/2
atbat runs hits RBI
Bartee 3b 4 1 1 0
Parroltt cf 4 0 0 0
Cox ss 4 0 1 0
Lucas p 4 1 1 0
Price c 4 3 3 1
Abbate 1b 4 2 3 4
Kelly rf 4 0 2 1
Lopez lf 4 0 2 0
Chapman 2b 3 0 1 0
Totals 35 7 14 6
2B – Abbate. 3B – Price. HR – Abbate. SB – Bartee.
IP H R ER BB SO
Lucas 6.2 5 8 2 8 3
WP – Lucas.
