Latexo Blanks Centerville, 10-0

Lady Tigers Now 3-0 in District

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

CENTERVILLE – The Latexo Lady Tigers are the odds-on favorites to win the District 25-2A Softball Championship and could be in for a deep playoff run this season. That is not a misprint. The Lady Tigers are 15-3-1 so far on the year and after their 10-0 win over the Centerville Lady Tigers on Monday, Latexo is an impressive 3-0 in league competition.

The only teams the Lady Tigers have not played in district are the Leon Lady Cougars who sit at 4-10 on the season and the Oakwood Lady Panthers who will drop down to Class 1A when the playoffs roll around in late April.

So far, they have given up all of one run while scoring 25 in district competition. In the latest Texas Girls’ Coaches Association (TGCA) poll, the TGCA has them ranked at #11, while MaxPreps has them ranked #4. In fact, it took a walk-off single from the #1 team in both polls, the Lovelady Lady Lions, to beat them.

On Monday, Latexo traveled to Centerville to take on the usually tough Lady Tigers and it was more of the same old story. The Lady Tigers scored three in the first on their way to pounding out 10 runs while the Latexo pitching only allowed three hits. In fact, the Latexo pitching was so dominant Centerville only had two at-bats over the minimum.

Charlee Biano led off the game for Latexo and was hit by a pitch. With Cammy Parrish at the plate, Biano stole second and when Parrish slapped a shot up the middle, the speedy Biano crossed the plate to make the score 1-0.

Natalie Nicol followed in the order and also singled up the middle. The hit moved Parrish to third while Nicol took second on the throw. Bailee Omelina was up next and grounded back to the mound. She was thrown out at first but on the play, Parrish scampered home to make the score 2-0.

Nicol moved to third on the play and when Katy Allen roped a pitch into center, Nicol trotted home with the third run of the first inning. Rowdy Stokes was up next but struck out while Taylor Dise grounded out to third to end the top of the inning with the Lady Tigers in green up by a score of 3-0.

Lauren Woodard was in the circle for Latexo and she worked a 1-2-3 inning. She popped up Rebecca Wilson, caught Keyonna Holley looking at strike three and then forced Casey Brent to ground into a 5-3 force at first.

Kaylee Brent was in the circle for Centerville and had an easier time in the second inning but still gave up a run. Woodard led off the top of the inning and grounded out to Brent. Mally Moore followed in the batting order and tripled into right field. She came around to make the score 4-0 when Biano singled past short. She stole second base but was stranded there after Parrish and Nicol both popped up to short.

Woodard worked another easy inning in the bottom of the frame. She forced K. Brent to ground out to third but gave up a single to Casey Brent. The base rap went for naught as C. Brent was caught trying to steal second. Woodard did the rest as she got Kameron Dunham to swing and miss at strike three to retire the side.

K. Brent settled down after the first two innings and worked a quiet third. She got Omelina to fly out to second and forced Allen to ground out to the circle. After Stokes drew a walk, K. Brent fanned Dise to send Latexo out to the field.

In the bottom of the third, Woodard only need 11 pitches to end the inning. She got Ruggin Rivenbark to line out to short, struck out Wynter French on three pitches and then got Kaleigh Charanza to chase a bad pitch on a 2-2 count to end the inning.

It seemed like after some initial jitters, K. Brent settled into a groove. She caught Woodard looking at strike three to open the fourth and then got Moore to fly out to right. After giving up a walk to Biano, K. Brent got Parrish to fly out to center for the third out of the inning.

The Lady Tigers in orange didn’t fare any better in the bottom of the fourth. Woodard got Wilson to ground out to third for the first out, fanned Holley for the second out and got C. Brent to pop up to Biano at short for the third out of the inning.

Latexo tacked on another run in the top of the fifth. Nicol led off with a single and then stole second with Omelina at the plate. Omelina popped up to the circle, but when Katy Allen grounded out, Nicol raced around the bases to make the score 5-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, Latexo made a pitching change and brought Allen on in relief of Woodard. It didn’t seem to matter as Allen struck out the first batter she faced gave up a seeing eye single and then got the third batter to hit into a double play to bring the inning to a close.

The Lady Tigers went on to add another run to their total in the top of the sixth and then for good measure dropped a four-spot on Centerville in the top of the seventh to close out the game and pick up the 10-0 win.

On the game, Woodard picked up the win after she pitched four innings and gave up one hit while striking out five. Allen worked the last three innings and yielded two hits while striking out three. Allen was also 2-4 at the plate with three RBI.

Nicol was 2-4 at the dish with two runs scored while Parrish was 2-5 with two RBI and a run scored.

K. Brent was saddled with the loss after she pitched six innings and gave up eight runs on 10 hits. She also struck out three and walked three. C. Brent pitched an inning for Centerville and gave up two runs on three hits.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].