The Brownwood Lady Lions established some positive momentum ahead of Tuesday’s District 6-4A softball opener as they made quick work of the San Angelo Lake View Maidens, 13-1, Friday night.
“It was exciting to see the girls put everything together,” said Lady Lions head coach Cherita Munguia. “There’s a lot of things that we’ve been working on and I saw a lot of that come to light today. We got to work on different things, the girls put their nose to the grindstone and made sure to put the ball in play, and defensively we cleaned up some areas that needed it.”
Following a scoreless first inning, Brownwood (12-8) struck for four runs in the bottom of the second, seven runs in the third, and two insurance runs in the fourth to invoke the 10-run mercy rule.
Every Lady Lion in the batting order collected at least one hit as Brownwood finished with a dozen as a team. Amarrea Thomas, Hanah Campos and Adyn Lucas led the way with two hits apiece and combined to drive in seven runs – three RBIs by Thomas and two each by Campos and Lucas. Maitlyn Esquivel and Audrey Keas both tallied one hit and two RBIs, Brenda Allen and Kaydence Allen finished with one hit and one RBI apiece, and Lila Mares and Kendra Allen also notched hits.
“We’ve struggled with different velocities throughout this season, and this is one we’ve struggled with a lot, so it was a good way to end things before district,” Munguia said. “It doesn’t matter what speed or what rotation is coming, we can still put the ball in play.”
In the circle, Kaydence Allen tossed three shutout, no-hit innings against Lake View (5-9-1) with seven strikeouts and three walks. Brenda Allen worked the final two innings and yielded a run on three hits with a pair of strikeouts.
“Kaydence and Brenda did an excellent job,” Munguia said. “What people don’t see behind the scenes is they’re constantly working on different pitches and hitting their spots. Our catcher Amarrea Thomas did an excellent job working the umpire and trying to pull strikes where she could get them for both girls.”
Despite another revamped lineup, which featured Nevaeh Perez at second base, Lila Mares at third base, and Amarrea Thomas behind the plate, the Lady Lions committed just one error in the field.
“I don’t know if we’re ever going to be set on our infield and that’s the cool thing about having 16 girls,” Munguia said. “They can all come out and do what we need that day for the team. Some days people are involved in other things, or they’re just not on that day, and we’re not crippled by the fact that we might have to change our lineup. It means a lot to be as deep as we are.”
In the second inning Friday night for Brownwood, Kaydence Allen was plunked on the first pitch of the frame, then Kendra Allen singled ahead of a two-RBI double to left-center field by Thomas. With two outs, Campos doubled down the left field line to score Jolea Chambers, running for Thomas, then Lucas doubled home Campos.
The seven-run third for the Lady Lions started with a one-out single by Mares, who advanced to second base on an errant pick-off attempt and scored on Kaydence Allen’s RBI single. Kendra Allen and Thomas then walked to load the bases, and Esquivel delivered a two-RBI double to center that scored Kendra Allen and Kaydence Chandler, running for Kaydence Allen.
Keas followed with an RBI sacrifice fly that brought home Thomas, then Campos singled home Esquivel, Lucas doubled home Campos, and Brenda Allen singled home Lucas to stretch the lead to 11-0.
The lone run for Lake View came in top of the fourth with a one-out RBI triple by McKenna Dane that followed a lead-off single by Ella Losoya.
Brownwood added two insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth as Kaydence Allen was again hit by a pitch and scored on an RBI single by Thomas, while Keas later singled home Thomas to cap the scoring.
The Lady Lions open the District 6-4A portion of their schedule at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when they visit Glen Rose (11-8-1).
“I feel good about district,” Munguia said. “We played as a family tonight and that’s the most important thing.”