Wylie senior Macy Alewine is all smiles after she hit her second home run during Game 1 of a Class 6A Division I area-round playoff game against Temple on Wednesday from Waxahachie High School. Photo by David Wolman / C&S Media
By David Wolman
Wylie senior third baseman Macy Alewine said that Wednesday was one of the proudest days that she’s had as an athlete.
In the morning, Alewine signed a National Letter of Intent with the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women’s softball team. In the evening, the Pirate senior crushed two home runs in an 11-4 win for Wylie over Temple in Game 1 of a Class 6A Division I area-round softball game from Waxahachie High School.
“It’s up top there,” Alewine said. “I’m super stoked about everything.”
After two separate weather delays because of lightning in the area postponed the start of the game by 1 hour, the Pirates’ defense, which was a strength during their bi-district series win over Rockwall-Heath, struggled in the early-going.
The Tem-Cats took a 2-0 lead after a wild pitch allowed Gabi Barbosa to score from third base. Temple’s first run of the ballgame occurred when Jordyn Valdez scored on a throwing error. It was one of five errors on the evening for Wylie, which Pirates head coach Heather Damron said that she would like to see her team clean up for tonight’s potential close-out game, set for 6:30 p.m. from Waxahachie.
Despite those struggles, Alewine said that Wylie’s offense is built to overcome those types of mistakes.
Wylie’s high-powered offense didn’t waste any time getting to work. The Pirates hit the ball hard and often, even on plays that resulted in outs.
Kayla Santiago and Macey Stephenson hit back-to-back triples, with Stephenson’s three-bagger driving in Santiago. Moments later, Cori Vogeley drove in Stephenson with an RBI sacrifice fly that she hit into center field, tying the score at 2-2.
Alewine put Wylie ahead for good just one inning later after she crushed a solo home run over the wall in center field for a 3-2 Pirates lead.
In the fourth inning, Wylie had a runner on first base with two outs, but Temple decided to pitch to Alewine instead of issuing an intentional walk to her. Alewine made Temple pay as she lined a two-run home over the wall in left field for a 5-2 Wylie advantage.
“I’ve been struggling recently and have been putting in extra work after practice with my dad on certain pitches that I’ve been struggling with,” she said. “I trust in that, and I trust in God, and it all worked out.”
All the while, Wylie freshman Angel Wright turned in another solid pitching performance. After holding Rockwall-Heath scoreless for 15 innings during the previous round of the playoffs, Wright settled in after a rough first inning against Temple. She allowed just two runs during the game’s final six innings and struck out five against five hits.
“We didn’t take care of the ball, defensively, in some instances, especially right there at the end,” Damron said. “But like I’ve said before, Angel is really chill and takes everything In stride, and she trusted her defense.”
An interesting sequence of events in the sixth inning helped Wylie to pull away for good.
Not wanting to have Alewine hit another home run, Temple decided to issue an intentional walk to begin the inning. However, that walk wasn’t to Alewine, but to Vogeley.
Damron thought that it was a case of mistaken identity.
Wylie made Temple pay for the mental lapse as the Pirates scored six runs in the frame to turn what had been a close game into a blowout.
“I don’t know for sure, but I think that’s what happened,” Damron said. “They’re both tall. I think that it left them a little confused. But if they’re going to give it to us, great.”
The Nos. 8 and 9 hitters in Wylie’s lineup, Mia Gamez and Carlee Castaneda, delivered in the clutch, with Gamez driving in the first run of the frame with an RBI single up the middle and Castaneda followed with an RBI hit of her own.
Ava Cook and Kayla Santiago followed with back-to-back triples before Stephenson capped off a 12-hit attack for the Pirates with an RBI single for an 11-3 Wylie lead.
“We’re really strong, 1 through 9, and we really believe in that,” Alewine said.
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