Lady Lions Walk past Lady Tigers, 24-0
Lovelady Pitchers Combine on No-Hitter
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
LATEXO – The Latexo Lady Tigers welcomed the Lovelady Lady Lions to town on Friday, March 22 for a District 21-2A softball game and in hindsight, the Lady Tigers probably regret the invitation as they fell to the Lady Lions by a final score of 24-0.
Lovelady opened the game at the plate and wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Jacy Stubblefield led off the first inning with a hard grounder past second base. On the play, a throwing error allowed her to move to third.
Makayla White followed with a walk and stole second. Erin Sample was up next and hit a shot back to Bailey Ingle in the pitcher’s circle. Ingle threw to first for the sure out but on the play, Stubblefield scored and White moved to third.
On a 3-1 count, a passed ball allowed White to scamper home to make the score 2-0. Mimi Sandoval drew a walk, stole second and scored on a Rylee Biedrzycki single to center. Biedrzycki stole second and Bailee Albinus followed with a walk.
The next Lady Lion to come to bat was Sarah Thompson and Ingle managed to get Thompson to fly out to left. Also on the play, Biedrzycki was thrown out after tagging up to stop the Lady Lions offensive surge.
Sandoval was in the circle for Lovelady and she made quick work of the Lady Tigers. She got Diana Maza to swing at strike three, walked Ingle, caught Madison Catoe looking and then got Raelyn Walker out on a foul tip to end the first inning.
With the score 3-0, the bottom fell out for Latexo. Macie Larue led off with a single and Katie Thompson followed with a walk. From there, things took a turn for the worse as Lovelady scored five runs before the first out and added five more to make the score 13-0 after the top of the second.
Albinus came in to pitch for Sandoval and the move almost backfired on the Lady Lions. Ebony Perez led off with a walk and Lanie Davis also walked to put runners at first and second. Harli Brent was up next, but Albinus seemed to have regained her control as she struck out Brent on three pitches.
Kayla Walker grounded out to Thompson at first base and moved the runners up a base. Another walk from Albinus loaded the bases, but when Perez tried to steal home, she was tagged out to end the second inning.
The third inning wasn’t any better for the home team as Lovelady put up 11 more runs to make the score 24-0 by the time Lady Tigers recorded the third out of the frame.
Despite being up by double digits, Albinus was still flirting with control issues in the bottom of the third. She walked Maza to open the inning, but followed up with Ks to Ingle and Catoe. After she issued a free pass to Walker, she seemed to bear down and caught Perez looking to retire the side.
Because of the 15-run mercy rule, the game was called after the final out of the third inning as Lovelady won the contest by a final score of 24-0.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
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