Carlee Casteneda and the Wylie softball team earned a 6-5 win over Sachse on Saturday afternoon. Photo by Elijah Kloepping / C&S Media
By David Wolman
After Wylie junior Emma Cook took off from the batter’s box, she felt that the only way that she could beat out the play at first base was by sliding head first.
Cook turned her head toward Sachse shortstop Brooke Robinson, who fielded a rolling ground ball near the edge of the outfield, and ran up the baseline as fast as she could.
Despite a valiant attempt by Lady Mustangs first baseman Alicia Payne, who did the splits, Cook touched the first-base bag before the ball landed in Robinson’s glove. Julia Barta scored on the play, lifting the Pirates to a 6-5 home win Saturday afternoon.
“Sometimes it makes you get there slightly quicker when you slide and just messes with the defense a little bit,” head coach Heather Damron said. “Emma thought that’s what was best, and that’s what she did.”
Cook’s infield single capped off a wild seventh inning, one in which the two teams combined for seven runs. Cook’s completed a last-inning comeback for the Pirates, who improved to 9-1 in District 9-6A. Sachse dropped to 6-4.
Wylie led 3-1 going into the top of the seventh inning, but Sachse, which had been held without a run since the first inning, strung together three straight hits. The third hit, an RBI single by Maya McClarity, reduced the Lady Mustangs’ deficit to 3-2. Sachse tied the score after the throw to third base on a pickoff attempt sailed into left field. Miscommunication by two outfielders during the ensuing at bat resulted in a dropped fly ball in right field, which plated another run for Sachse.
Following a single by Xochitl Mendoza, Alexandra Valencia hit an RBI double off the end of the glove of Wylie left field Carlee Casteneda, for a 5-3 Sachse lead.
“We played some good defense, and then they were able to string together a few hits and we had a few communication issues and an error in there,” Damron said. “We shouldn’t have given them as many as they did, but it was great to come out here and scratch some runs ourselves.”
But Damron knew that her team was capable of mounting a comeback, especially for how well it hit the ball at times off McClarity, Sachse’s starting pitcher. Overall, the Pirates amassed nine hits — a much better result than when Wylie lost 1-0 to Sachse earlier in the year, a game in which McClarity struck out 10 and allowed just three hits.
Wylie posted three straight hits to commence the bottom of the seventh inning. Amira Forbit hit a hard line drive off the wall in left field for a two-run double to level the score at 5-5. Four batters later, Cook’s RBI infield single lifted the Pirates to a walk-off win.
“This time, we strung our hits together,” Damron said. “Last time, we’d get a walk and nothing else. The next inning, we would get a hit and nothing else. We just made some adjustments at the plate. The first time we played them, we were a little more nervous and attacked pitches that we don’t want to normally attack. We adjusted and put the ball in play more.”
Sachse led 1-0 in the first inning after an RBI single by McClarity, but Wylie took advantage of a few defensive mistakes by Sachse over the next few innings.
A dropped throw at first base allowed Wylie to tie the game at 1-1 in the second inning. The Pirates led 2-1 following an RBI single by Forbit in the third and later increased its advantage to 3-1 on a Katelyn Ashenfelter RBI hit in the fifth.
Saturday’s win was the eighth straight for Wylie.
Stay informed and support your local community newspaper, subscribe to The Wylie News.
0 Comments