WOODROW – The Brownwood Lady Lions spotted the TGCA Class 4A No. 4 Dumas Demonettes the first eight runs of the game in their Class 4A Division I Region I semifinals series opener at Lubbock Cooper High School Thursday, which resulted in a 15-6 defeat.
The loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Lady Lions (19-12), who now must defeat Dumas (33-5) twice, beginning at 11 a.m. Friday back at Lubbock Cooper, to advance to the regional championship round. Brownwood is in the midst of its deepest postseason run since advancing to the state tournament in 2016.
“The nerves got to us in the beginning,” said Lady Lions head coach Cherita Munguia. “This is a huge stage and somewhere that none of us have been before. When they jumped out hitting the ball, which we knew they were going to do, they have some lethal hitters, we got a little nervous. I know we didn’t get the win, but our performance isn’t something to hang our heads over. It was an interesting outing for our first one, and tomorrow we’ll make some changes and hopefully you’ll see a ball club that puts it all together.”
The Lady Lions yielded eight walks and two hit batters, committed three errors and the Demonettes recorded 15 hits off Brownwood’s pitching combination of Kaydence Allen and Tynlea Wilson. Allen worked the first two innings and yielded eight runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and five walks, while Wilson tossed the final five frames and gave up six runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and a pair of walks.
“I was super excited for Tynlea to come out here and show some composure,” Munguia said. “Kaydence has worked her tail off all season long, but Dumas is used to her kind of velocity, so Tynlea stepped up. I love the chemistry between them and it takes a lot of discipline to watch Kaydence pitch in however many games, but Tynlea is always ready to go. We told them this weekend we’re going to need both of them. That’s what I’ve been preaching all year long. It’s going to take every single one of us, we’re a family.”
Offensively, the Lady Lions collected seven hits and drew a pair of walks off Dumas pitcher Star Cortes, and were also aided by a pair of Demonette errors. Chloe Walls belted a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning for Brownwood, while Jeniffer Romero singled and finished with two RBIs, Wilson doubled, and Allen, Jakayla Peek, Peyton Pena and Lila Mares contributed singles.
“All in all I felt like we hit the ball really well tonight,” Munguia said. “We hit it right to people in some situations and we left some people on the bases. We have to do a better job when someone is on base, we have to take it as a personal thing to get them home. But some people that had been struggling earlier on in the season and even in the playoffs came out hot tonight. But being down 15-3 and getting that three-run home run by Chloe just proves that they’re fighters and not someone you can ever count out. I’ve seen teams that get down and stay down, but that’s not us.”
For Dumas – which led 2-0 after one inning and 8-0 after two frames – Yaritza Vargas was 5 of 6 at the plate with two triples, a double, two RBIs and three runs scored. Sania Reyes doubled twice and collected a team-high four RBIs and Vida Fierro and Mia Fry each recorded one hit with two RBIs.
The Lady Lions put their first run on the board in the bottom of the third as Allen led off with a walk, advanced to third base when Peek reached on a throwing error, and scored on an RBI ground out by Romero to make the score 8-1.
Brownwood added two more runs in the fifth as Allen, Peek and Pena singled in succession to load the bases with no outs. Romero then reached on an error that allowed Allen to score, and Carlee Burks followed with an RBI ground out that plated Peek.
The Lady Lions’ final runs came on Walls’ three-run blast in the seventh that also plated Peek, who started the frame with a walk, and Romero, who singled up the middle with one out.
The winner of the Brownwood-Dumas series will face either Andrews or Springtown for the Class 4A Division I Region I championship and a trip to the state tournament next weekend.