Softball Hawks Beat Wimberley Texans, 2-0
The Hawks won their first game ever against the Wimberley Texans last Friday afternoon at the Hawks Softball Diamond.
Pitcher Missy Romero pitched with confidence as she threw only 35 pitches in the middle innings allowing the opportunity to pitch stronger in the heat when the latter innings came calling.
What was the reason for the confidence? How about the simple number that tells about errors in a game? There were none!!
The defense was solid as Romero found the confidence to pitch to the bat and allow the defense to take care of the offensively challenged Texans from Wimberley.
The Texans had beaten Fredericksburg Billies earlier this week 10-9 and that will give you the idea that this team might be finding all the ingredients for making a serious run for a playoff spot.
The Hawks started off with two consecutive doubles off the bats of Romero and Katy Payne which would produce the only run that would be needed for the rest of the day to secure the win.
CLHS scratched across another run in the bottom of the third inning when Tiffany Arredondo reached first with a perfectly laid bunt single. Arredondo stole second and then waited for Romero to knock her in with her second hit and giving the home team a 2-0 lead.
The Hawks have now gone where they have never been in the history of the program….2-1 in District play and holding on to second place.
The top of the batting order had six of the seven hits, as they continually added pressure on the Texans…a few more hits here or there and the lead could of ballooned to a wider margin.
The seventh inning was a good case and point to that fact. Alex Henderson came to the plate with two on and only one out. Something you would of never seen in years past was the experience of Henderson a right handed hitter switching to the left side of the batters box in order to lay down a bunt and get the runners in scoring position.
The play worked with a perfect bunt that was scored a single, when the Texan defense could not get her out on the play.
“That was my idea, if Coach has me bunting,” a confident Alex Henderson said.
Which posed the next question. What would you had done if the count went to two strikes? “I would of switched to batting right handed!” Henderson said. “Our goals are no errors and we have been working really hard and it is finally paying off.”
When asked about the long lay off since the heartbreaking game with Bandera. Henderson finished, “I was thinking we had to beat Wimberley and we used that energy tonight….we had to beat Wimberley!”
The team beat Wimberley for the first time and there are some other hurdles for this team to clear as the season continues.
Romero did not have the strikeout pitch and the team relying on their defense was even a bigger accomplishment.
“We tried to move the ball around more in this game and they were making contact,” Head Coach John Gallagher said. “We stayed positive all week and worked on the things that did not work in the Bandera game.”
There was one player for Wimberley that had success with a double and a hard liner to Vicki Henderson in the game. When that same player came to bat in the top of the seventh inning, we asked Romero how she approached that situation.
“I know what she can do, but I don’t think about the other at bats, my concentration is on making my best pitches for this at bat,” Romero answered. “I’m very proud of the defense tonight!”
The batter for Wimberley struck out her last at bat as the stronger Romero struck out two batters and then finished with a weak grounder and put out at first.
The team has come a long way so far, the fun part of the season is coming and watching the team mature gives them more confidence at they strive for the finish line.
. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Texans 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
CL HAWKS 1 0 1 0 0 0 X 2 7 0
LOB: Tex-4, CL-6. 2B-Romero, Payne. SB-Arredondo.
SB-Arredondo, Romero, St. John.
. IP H R ER BB SO NP
Romero 7 5 0 0 0 5 75
Win-Romero. CS-Payne (1). WP-Romero (1).
