Lady Tigers Claw past Lady Cougars
Latexo 6 Leon 0
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
LATEXO – Since a 3-0 loss to the Class 4A Taylor Lady Ducks in February, the Latexo Lady Tigers have been on a roll. They had won eight in a row and only allowed nine runs. The Lady Tigers also sat atop District 25-2A with a perfect 3-0 mark.
On Friday evening of last week, Latexo welcomed the Leon Lady Cougars to town and it was more of the same as the Lady Tigers blanked their guests by a final score of 6-0.
Lauren Woodard was in the circle for Latexo and she struck out the side to open the game. When the Lady Tigers came in from the field, they seized the early lead after Charlee Biano reached on an error.
She stole second on a 2-0 count and two pitches later, she stole third. When Leon pitcher Bobbie Guyton uncorked a wild pitch, Biano scampered home with the game’s first run to stake Latexo to a 1-0 lead.
That was all the scoring until the bottom of the fourth when the Lady Tigers tacked on another run to make it 2-0. Katy Allen led off with a single to center. With Cammy Parrish at the plate, a two-base error allowed Allen to motor over to third. Two pitches later, Parrish lofted a deep fly ball to left field which allowed Allen to tag up and trot home with the game’s second run.
A quiet fifth inning gave way to the sixth and the Lady Tigers brought Allen on in relief. She struck out the first batter she faced but walked the next Lady Cougar in the batting order. A second strike out was followed by an attempted steal, but it was to no avail as the baserunner was gunned down at the second base bag.
In the bottom of the inning, Latexo put up a four-spot with two outs in the frame. Allen and Parrish both grounded out to short to lead-off the inning, but Taylor Dise followed with a single to left. Woodard was up next and slapped a shot into center which moved Dise to second.
A passed ball moved Dise to third and Woodard to second and when a Mally Moore fly ball was misplayed, the two baserunners crossed the plate to make the score 4-0. Moore moved to second on the error. Another error, this time on a Biano flyball, allowed Moore to scurry around the bases to make it 5-0.
Biano moved to second on the error and then promptly stole third. When the Lady Cougars suffered a mental lapse in the infield, Biano seized the opportunity to race home and make the score 6-0.
That was all the Lady Tigers would need as Allen worked a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to secure the 6-0 win for Latexo.
Woodard picked up the win for the Lady Tigers with five innings of work. She shut out the Lady Cougars on four hits and struck out eight. Allen worked two hitless innings, striking out three and walking one.
Guyton took the hard luck loss for Leon. She pitched six innings and gave up six (only one earned) runs on five hits. She also struck out six and walked one.
At the plate, Latexo was led by Dise who was 2-3 with a run scored.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
