CL Hawks Breaks Tie, Beats Navarro, 5-4

Carley Dubois ready for mad dash to first base.        (photo by Karen Holmes)

The Hawks tied Navarro in their last tournament and with those tourney contests being timed, that game was called with neither team being allowed to go into extra innings.

This time around, Canyon Lake wanted to finish that game with a win and that was the result as CL continued their season by upping their winning/tying steak to 10 games.

“Great win,” Head Coach John Gallagher concluded. “We showed a different mentality, if we get behind then we are going to do something about it.”

After a scoreless first inning, CL had a turning point in that 2nd inning as the Panthers left the bases loaded without any damage being done.

Longhorn Propane says Go Hawks

Navarro first three batters reached base with 2 singles and a walk. The next Panther had a fielders choice, as their lead runner, was forced out at home.

With just one out, Navarro would meet a resilient Lauren Mentzer who had two strike-outs to end the inning unscathed. That first strike-out was scary as Mentzer had to work back after her first three pitches were called balls.

Mentzer’s next 6 pitches were strikes which resulted in two strike-outs, giving the Hawk fans no chance to sit on their hands with each offer having intrigue.

Canyon Lake finally broke the ice after scoring their first run in the bottom of the 3rd stanza. A one out single that ricocheted off Cowan’s (Navarro’s pitcher) leg had Carley Dubois safely on first.

With two stolen bases, Dubois would scoot home after Maddy Puente seeing eye single over the first baseman’s glove. Puente had doubled in her first at bat but was left stranded in that first inning.

Navarro would leave 10 players stranded in this battle but were able to score 2 runs in those last two innings.

In that 6th inning, Dubois had a screamer Panther hit come off her glove for an error which allowed the tying runs to score and set the stage for this close nail-biter win.

                  Hawk Proud

“This game was big for us,” Senior Center-fielder Dubois surmised. “As a player and teammate we wanted it more and my team pulled for me and when we got down we pulled each other up.”

Canyon Lake answered by scoring 3 runs in the bottom of that same inning, in what would prove to be enough fire power for this win.

Adriana Peaslee was hit by a pitch with one out in that 6th inning to get the action going.

Maggie Banks made a deposit with a single and pinch hitter Char Hutson followed with a walk loading the bases.

An error on a throw by the Panther’s catcher got the Hawks first run and a walk to Dubois followed by an rbi single on a hard hit ball off the bat of Marley Carrizales finished the damage, knocking in the final two runs.

Navarro would not go away quietly as the Panthers started their last inning with a Home-Run by Cowan to deep left-center field. An error and three singles scored another run, but left the bases loaded.

Second baseman, Adrianna Zunker, would gobble up a ground ball hit and her throw to first for that last out and breaking the tie with Navarro.

    Go Hawks and Beat the Texans

“This team works the hardest and we have talent and the mentality for games like this,” Dubois closed. “I am out of breath and I will help the team take that last breath.”

Coach Gallagher finished with a comment for the next game, “We learned from this win and we will work hard in practice like we did before the Navarro game, this is a big rivalry game and we have something to prove.”

Canyon Lake will welcome Wimberley to the Hawk Nest next Tuesday and hopefully make some amends for an earlier game played across the ‘Devil’s Back-Bone’ which is one of those two Hawk losses this season.

Go Hawks!!

             1  2  3  4  5  6  7   R  H  E
 Navarro     0  0  0  0  0  2  2   4  8  1
 CL Hawks    0  0  1  0  1  3  x   5  5  2

                      ab  r  h bi 2b bb so sb  misc
 cf Carley Dubois      2  2  1  0  0  2  0  4
 ss Marley Carrizales  3  0  1  2  0  1  2  1
 lf Maddy Puente       3  0  2  1  1  1  1  0  cs
 p  Lauren Mentzer     2  0  0  0  0  1  0  0
 c  Kat Weber          1  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  sac
 rf Adriana Peaslee    2  1  0  0  0  0  1  0  hbp
 3b Maggie Banks       3  1  1  0  0  0  0  0
 1b Jessie Melendez    2  0  0  0  0  0  2  0
  ph Char Hutson       0  1  0  0  0  1  0  0
 2b Adriana Zunker     3  0  0  0  0  0  3  0
    totals            21  5  5  3  1  7  9  5

    pitching          ip  h  r er bb so   W  L
    Lauren Mentzer     7  8  4  1  2  8   8  2

    pitches/strikes: 124/86
    WP: 1