Hawks Softball Sweep Texans, 6-4
Canyon Lake improved their district record to 5-3 with a win over Wimberley to put themselves in position for the playoffs.
The Hawks were cruising with a three run lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning when the Texans came storming back to tie the score.
The first four players reached base for Wimberley in the fifth with two singles a double and fielders choice. The third run came home off a sacrifice fly and the momentum seemed to be with the home team.
The Hawks answered in the top of the sixth inning when McKenna Beseda singled with two outs. Beseda has been on a tear the past couple of weeks raising her batting percentage over .200 points to a lofty .360 for the season.
“Ever since I switched to hitting from the left side, my batting has improved,” (The understatement of the year) third baseman Beseda said.
Stay five nights and get the sixth night free!
Alex Henderson is having a break out year batting .392 and with the hit passed Katy Payne and Missy Romero for the most hits in a season with 29.
The Texans were not finished and scored in the bottom of the seventh tying the game and sending the game to extra innings.
A lead off single followed by a pass ball and wild pitch had the Wimberley runner on third base with one out. The next Texan hit a sacrifice fly ball to the outfield.
The Hawks can now claim an undefeated record when they go into extra innings (the first game), when Canyon Lake responded with two runs in the eighth frame to seal the deal.
Heather St. John reached base with her third hit of the game, which was one more than she had for the season up to that point. Beseda had an infield hit setting the stage for the Hawks.
The two runs scored the same way Wimberley tied the score in the seventh. St. John scored on a passed ball and Alex Henderson raced home on a wild pitch.
The defense did the rest when first baseman Lilimae Daily bare handed the ball and safely secured it in her glove for the final out.
The game was a testament to the defense as pitcher Romero only had 54 pitches after the sixth inning. A little math will tell you the average pitch count was nine pitches per inning up to that point.
Romero only had four pitches for the three outs in that inning. The Hawks did have two errors, but none of the miscues happened in crucial situations in the game.
One of the more crucial innings was in the top of the fifth, with CL holding onto a one run lead.
Senior Katy Payne fouled off several pitches until she crushed a towering ball to the base of the 215 foot sign in left center field. The hit scored Vicki Henderson and then Payne scored on a single off the bat of Caroline Jordan.
“This win means a bunch to us,” catcher Payne gleamed. “We swept them and this shows how hard we worked….it makes it all worth it.”
On calling the game behind the plate, Payne noticed that the Texans were going after the first pitch and having success in the middle innings.
“We saw what they were doing (swinging at the first pitch), we went backwards with how we pitched to them,” the Payne Train said. “They were still getting good hits, but the Karma came back!”
The Hawks will now try to exorcise some bad ‘karma’ when they play Fredericksburg this Friday at the Hawk’s diamond and play for a better seeding in District 26-3A.
. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E
Canyon Lake 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 2 6 12 2
Wimberley 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 4 8 5
DP-WHS. LOB-WHS 7, CL 9. 2b-Payne (1), A. Henderson (1).
SAC-Browning (1). SB-V. Henderson (3), Payne (1),
Beseda (1).
Pitching IP R ER H BB SO NP W L
M. Romero 8 4 4 8 1 4 88 15 8
WP-Romero (1). PB-Payne (1). CS-Browning (1)
