Lady Tigers Take Game One, 5-0

Latexo Pitchers Combine on Two-Hitter

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

LATEXO – The Latexo Lady Tigers opened their 2022 postseason journey on Wednesday as they welcomed the Snook Lady Blue Jays to town for the first game of a Bi-District best-of-three series.

The Lady Tigers entered the contest ranked #8 in the TGCA Class 2A final regular season poll and they were the District Champions of District 25-2A with a record of 24-3-1. The Lady Jays, on the other hand, finished fourth in District 26-2A with an 8-12-1 mark.

Given the pedigrees of both teams, the game went about as expected with the Lady Tigers’ pitching dominating the contest. Lauren Woodard and Katy Allen combined on a two-hitter as Latexo took the first game of the series 5-0.

Woodard got the start for the Lady Tigers and gave up a lead-off walk to Snook’s Nadia Garcia. She came back, however, to strike out Jalee Bauman for out number one. With Aubrey Becker in the batter’s box, Garcia attempted to steal but was gunned down at second on a frozen rope from catcher Baylee Omelina to second baseman Marissa Allison. Becker would strike out on the next pitch to bring the girls in green up to bat.

Charlee Biano

Becker was in the circle for Snook and the Lady Tigers’ lead-off hitter, Charlee Biano, welcomed her to Latexo with a triple. Katy Allen followed Biano to the plate and drew a walk to put runners on the corners with no one out.

With Natalie Nicol at the plate, Allen stole second. Nicol chased a rise ball for strike three but Mally Moore followed with a can of corn out to left that was deep enough for the speedy Biano to tag up and score.

Omelina was up next and on a 2-1 pitch, Allen swiped third. Omelina would draw a walk to bring up Cammy Parrish. A wild pitch would allow Allen to race home and give the Lady Tigers an early 2-0 lead.

While Parrish would strike out to end the Latexo threat, the lead was more than enough for Woodard as she struck out the side in the top of the second.

Taylor Dise opened the bottom half of the inning with a single to left and would eventually work her way over to third. That was as far as she would get, however, as Becker retired the next three Lady Tigers she faced, to send the game into the third.

The Lady Jays continued to struggle at the plate as Woodard appeared to be getting stronger as the game wore on. Woodard caught Kiara Green looking at strike three, coaxed Carmen Miller to pop up to second on the first pitch she saw and then mowed down Frida Mota on three consecutive pitches to end the Snook at-bat.

When the Lady Tigers came in from the field, they doubled their lead.

Allen led off with a double to the wall in center field and stole third with Nicol at the plate. Nicol dropped down a perfect bunt and beat the throw to first as Allen scampered home to make the score 3-0. Nicol stole second and moved to third when Mally Moore grounded out. Omelina followed in the order and tapped back to the pitcher. Nicol was running on contact, however, and scored easily as Becker threw to first for the second out of the inning.

After Becker got the third out of the inning, Woodard returned to the circle and continued her mastery of the Snook batting order. She fanned Garcia and Bauman to open the fourth, but gave up her first hit of the game when Becker singled to right.

It was all for naught though, as Woodard got Alexis Macik to ground into a 5-3 force at first to retire the side.

Despite trailing 4-0, Becker continued to pitch well. Following a lead-off walk to Dise, Becker struck out Woodard, got Allison to pop up to second and got Biano to fly out to center to end the frame.

In the top of the fifth, Woodard sandwiched a walk to Paola Arredondo between a punch-out of Payton Sodalak, a three-pitch K of Green and a four-pitch K of Miller.

Natalie Nicol

As the game moved into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Lady Tigers added an insurance run when Omelina doubled in Nicol to make the score 5-0.

The top of the sixth saw Latexo make a change in the circle as Allen came on in relief of Woodard. Things didn’t get any better for the Lady Jays at he dish, however.

Mota tried to bunt her way on but was thrown out at first. Allen then fanned the next two batters she faced.

After Latexo couldn’t get anything going in their half of the sixth, Allen returned to the circle and shut down the last Snook threat. She gave up a lead-off single to Becker but caught Macik looking at strike three.

An error allowed Becker to move up a base and she took third when Sodolak grounded out to second. Becker would be stranded there, however, as Allen kept the shutout intact as she fanned Arredondo on three pitches to end the game, giving the Lady Tigers the 5-0 win and putting them up 1-0 in the series.  

Woodard picked up the win with five innings of work. She gave up one hit, struck out 12 and walked two. Allen pitched the final two innings in relief and gave up one hit while striking out four.

Becker took the loss as she went the distance, giving up five runs (four earned) on five hits. She also struck out six and walked five. She was also 2-3 at the plate.

At the plate, Latexo was led by Nicol who was 1-2 with an RBI and two runs scored. In addition, Omelina was 1-1 with two RBI.

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

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