Softball season ends at bi-district
The Lady Lions allowed the Windthorst Lady Trojans to jump out to an early lead during the bi-district playoff game last Thursday, then watched any hope of advancing slip away despite an admirable effort to recover.
Albany fell to Windthorst 10-0, with the Lady Trojans scoring all their runs in the first two inn-ings, ending the season for the Lady Lions.
“This game went much like our season in general has gone – up and down,” coach Jimmy Fuentes said. “We started the game making some mistakes on routine plays on defense to allow them to get out ahead, and we didn’t use good pitch selection early on offense.”
Windthorst scored five runs in each of the first two innings.
“By the third inning we settled into the game and started playing better, but we couldn’t recover from the hole we put ourselves into,” the coach said. “This type of performance can be typical for a young team like ours, so we have to take the lessons learned and move ahead.”
The coach said Windthorst is an experienced team that “you can’t let get ahead of you quickly like we did.”
Fuentes said the entire season has been a definite learning experience for the young squad, which finished with an overall 15-13 record.
“Our six rookie starters had to be thrown into the fire and learn on the fly,” the coach said. “They had to learn not only the game, but the mentality and work ethic it takes to be a varsity player for our program.”
The Lady Lions advanced to the state tournament last season, falling at the semifinal game to Bells. However, they graduated six seniors, most of whom had started for four years.
“We have no seniors graduating this year, so everyone has the opportunity to return next year,” the coach said. “We need to take the experience we gained this season and have a faster start next season.”
Ana Balliew pitched the four innings for the Lady Lions, allowing 10 runs on eight hits and one walk. She had no strikeouts.
Lady LIONS vs Windthorst
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 R/H/E
ALBANY 0 0 0 0 0 0/5/4
Windthorst 5 5 0 0 x 10/8/0
INDIVIDUAL STATS
C Holson 1 for 2, 1 sgl
A Balliew 2 for 2, 2 sgls
K Browning 1 for 2, 1 sgl
I Alvarez 1 for 2, 1 sgl
