Lady Tigers Fall in Area
Latexo Drops Series, 2-0
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
CALDWELL – The Latexo Lady Tigers were riding high after their Bi-District win over the Somerville Lady Yeguas. Latexo came into the game as the underdog due to their fourth-place finish in District 25-2A while Somerville had finished first in District 26-2A.
Their 11-1 win in Bi-District sent the Lady Tigers to the Area Round of the playoffs where they squared off against the Granger Lady Lions.
The competition gets tougher the deeper you go in the postseason and Latexo found that out the hard way in Game One of their best-of-three series against Granger.
Granger sent Alexi Wade to the pitchers’ circle on Friday night and she was spectacular as she no-hit the Lady Tigers in five complete innings as the Lady Lions won the first game of the series 10-0.
Charlee Biano led off the game for Latexo and drew a five-pitch walk. It was the only base-runner the Lady Tigers had on the night and Biano was thrown out at second when she tried to steal on a 2-0 pitch to Shelby Eberts.
Eberts went on to ground out as did Natalie Nicol, to end the Latexo half of the first.
Taylor Dise got the start for the Lady Tigers and it didn’t go very well. She walked Montana Moore to open the bottom of the first and then got Clarissa Miller to fly out to right. A walk to Amayah Simien moved Moore to second and when Wade laced a double into left, Moore scored while Simien moved to third.
An error in the outfield brought in Simien to make the score 2-0. Jaila Rollie came in as a courtesy runner for Wade and she crossed the plate when Mattie Wilkie also doubled to left. Marissa Luna followed in the order and on the first pitch she saw, Luna blasted it over the fence in center field to give the Lady Lions a 5-0 lead.
Fortunately, Dise regrouped to get the next two batters but the damage was done.
Wade retired the Lady Tigers in order during the top of the second and then it was like déjà vu, all over again.
Natalie Martin walked to open the bottom of the second but was thrown out trying to steal. Moore also drew a walk and successfully swiped second. A groundout by Miller moved her to third and then a double by Simien drove her in to make the score 6-0.
Simien moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch. Wade followed with a single and Wilkie drew a walk to bring to the plate. On a 2-0 pitch, Luna turned on it and once again the ball disappeared over the center field fence for her second homer in as many plate appearances.
That was it as far as scoring went in game one. Dise got Abby Carpenter to fly out to end the inning and then Wade took over.
Wade forced Dise to ground out, got Kaitlyn Charanza to strike out and then caught Katie Goolsby swinging at strike three.
After back-to-back five-run innings, Dise was strong the rest of the way. She struck out Payton Filla, got Martin to line out to short and then Moore popped up to end the third.
Neither team was able to put anyone on base the rest of the way and the game was called after the fifth inning as Granger picked up the Game One win, 10-0.
In Game Two of the series, the Lady Tigers played much better but the Lady Lions were the stronger team on Saturday as they muscled their way to a 17-5 win and the Area Championship.
Biano got the start for Latexo in the Saturday afternoon game and ran into trouble in the first inning. Moore drew a lead off walk and moved to second on a passed ball. Miller was up next and struck out. A wild pitch moved Moore to third and when Simien flew out to right, Moore was able to tag up and score.
Biano walked Wade and gave up a single to Wilkie. A passed ball moved the runners up a base and Luna singled to drive them in. A double from Carpenter and an error in the outfield pushed Luna around the bases to make the score 4-0.
After retiring Ramirez to end the Granger half of the first, Biano led off the bottom of the inning for the Lady Tigers and she took out some of the Latexo frustrations in her first trip to the plate. Payton Filla was in the circle for the Lady Lions and when she delivered a 3-2 pitch to Biano, the rising star turned it around and sent it screaming over the fence in center field for the Lady Tigers’ first hit and first run of the series.
Shelby Eberts followed with a ground out but Natalie Nicol singled up the middle. Shelby Coker followed with a double and when the ball was misplayed in the outfield, Nicol raced home to make the score 4-2. That was all Latexo could muster in the inning as Brandi Jackson was thrown out at first while Izzy Yorgensen popped out to end the inning.
With the score now 4-2, the Lady Lions fought back as they scored three in the top of the second and two in the top of the third to take a 9-2 lead.
Latexo, wasn’t finished, however. In the bottom of the third, the Lady Tigers plated three runs to cut the lead to 9-5. Biano led off with a double and moved to third when Eberts singled to center. An error in the outfield gave Biano the chance to trot home while Eberts also motored around the bases to cross the plate.
After Nicol popped out, Coker laced a single into left. An error on the play allowed her to take second and following a Jackson K, Yorgenson singled to center to drive in Coker and make the score 9-5.
That, unfortunately, was as close as Latexo would get as Granger plated eight runs in the top of the fifth to take a 17-5 lead as the game was called because of the run-rule.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
