Marble Falls softball beats Jarrell
CAPTION: First baseman Ady Floyd caught a ball from third baseman Cheyenne Thompson for the final out against Jarrell to secure the Lady Mustangs’ first district win. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Marble Falls High School softball team defeated Jarrell 6-5 in District 24-4A play to end the first round.
The Lady Mustangs got the win when Jocelyn Suarez hit a sacrifice flyball that scored Callie Phillips, who began the seventh inning with a double and went to third on a sacrifice flyball by Abigail Suarez.
“I really keep saying it over and over and keep telling the kids – the pieces we have, the group that we have, and at some point, we just have to find a way to cash in,” head coach Alex Lozoya said. “We cashed in and took advantage.”
Marble Falls scored a run in the first inning when Phillips led off with a solo home run, the second contest in a row she’s done that.
But Jarrell’s Peyton Gougler hit a RBI double to center field to tie the contest at 1-1.
The Lady Mustangs plated four in the second inning. Khloe Hollingsworth doubled to center field and scored when Kaylie Holden doubled down the lef-field line. Phillips added another RBI by scoring Holden with a single down the third-base line. Jocelyn Suarez brought Phillips home on a single down the first-base line.
The 5-1 advantage held until the bottom of the third inning when the Lady Cougars plated two to trim the deficit to 5-3.
Jarrell tied the contest in the sixth inning thanks to couple of singles in the inning, which set up the Marble Falls heroics in the seventh inning.
As a team, Marble Falls recorded 11 hits led by Phillips, who had three and 2 RBI in 4 at-bats. Jocelyn Suarez also had 2 RBI. Hollingsworth and freshman Ady Floyd each had multiple hits.
Marble Falls sophomore pitcher Brooklynn Damico earned the win. She allowed two earned runs off seven hits and five walks with one strikeout in seven innings.
“She felt a lot of pressure on herself leaving the bullpen,” Lozoya said. “She was telling me, ‘I feel a little off today.’ I was like ‘you don’t have anything to worry about. Your team is going to back you up.’ And she went the whole game and did a great job of giving us a chance.”
He noted both Suarez sisters along with their teammates made many routine plays, none bigger than the final three outs where Jocelyn Suarez caught a flyball, Abigail Suarez caught a ball in foul territory near first base for the second out, and senior third baseman Cheyenne Thompson fielded a grounder and fired to first baseman Floyd to end the contest.
“I’m very proud of them for the fact that we won the game on defense,” the coach said. “Hopefully it’s something that can springboard the girls going into next week.”
This victory is Marble Falls’ first in district play. Last year, the Lady Mustangs lost to Jarrell to end their season. Much like this time, the Lady Mustangs tied the contest in the seventh inning with no outs and the Lady Cougars came back and won in their half of the inning.
Lozoya noted his players are excellent in the classroom and compared the start of district play to studying for a test, then taking the test and feeling great about the answers only to get the test back and seeing a lot of red marks.
“You’re like ‘wait. Where’s my A?'” he said. “And you’re going over it and you see what you missed. And you’re like ‘why didn’t I double-check this? Why didn’t I see that? I know this one. Did I rush it and take it for granted?’ If we could just be a little more thorough and sharpen up our concentration, our focus a little bit to make sure that it gets complete, we don’t have that feeling. I’ve seen our kids when they make the mistake or the ball drops. I’ve seen the looks on their faces. ‘Hey, I can do that. Why didn’t I do that?’ At some point this comes down to you just have to perform. I really feel like our group deserves the moment to experience success. But just because you deserve it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen – you still have to go get it.”
Marble Falls welcomes Elgin at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, in a varsity-only contest in non-district play.
CAPTION: Pitcher Brooklynn Damico went the distance for the Lady Mustangs and forced the Lady Cougars to hit into routine outs. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
