Flatonia Ends Softball Season on High Note, But Schulenburg Lives to Play Another Day

The Schulenburg and Flatonia softball teams went headto-head in a season finale showdown Tuesday night at Flatonia where the Lady Bulldogs triumphed in an 18-8 win that was called early in the bottom of the sixth inning due to mercy rule.

Flatonia won’t be competing in the playoffs, but ended their season on a high note with a victory against a district rival.

“I think we are a playoff caliber team,” said Flatonia head softball coach Shawn Bruns. “We didn’t execute against Ganado and the other two teams in Weimar and Shiner. We’ve got a really tough district. It’s tough to not make the playoffs, but I’m really proud of the girls the way they finished tonight.”

It was a back and forth contest until Flatonia broke loose in the bottom of the fifth inning and made a huge rally in the final stretch with a collection of runs.

“We executed our small ball offense,” Bruns said. “A lot of our different batters did a good job of bunting, dragging, and sacrificing them over. Doing some squeeze plays and different things. That really helped us get the momentum going and we ran the bases really well.”

Flatonia catcher Payton Guzman laid down a crucial bunt in the bottom of the fifth inning that led to runners in scoring position and the team capitalizing with their bats.

“Tonight was definitely an odd night. I started at catcher, which I don’t normally start at,” said Guzman. “It started off kind of crazy. I haven’t been doing so hot, so I had to persevere through the game and really put my all into everything I did tonight. I had to play better than I normally play. I should be playing this way all the time, but I had to put a little bit more out there tonight.”

On the Schulenburg side, they have already clinched their playoff birth and can put this game behind them as they look to make a strong push in the postseason.

“We didn’t play well,” said Schulenburg head softball coach Gilbert Price. “As a coach, you take the blame because you feel like you didn’t get your team ready. I guess I didn’t get them ready. It’s one of those things. Like I told them, we are a playoff team ... We’re going to get back to work. All we can do now is try to make a run in the playoffs.”

Schulenburg started the action in the very beginning as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the first inning on hits and a bunt that eventually loaded the bases for a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Rilee Sanchez. It seemed when one team scored, the other team would answer right back until senior centerfielder Erica Otto crushed a ball over the right field fence for a two-run homer to take a 6-4 advantage in the top of the third. Flatonia went rallying in the fifth inning after Guzman’s bunt that put runners on first and third base. The Lady Bulldogs continued to bunt and produce runs for a 12-7 lead that could’ve been a longer stretch of runs, but ended on a hard-hit fly ball from Guzman that was caught by Otto on a backhanded play running toward the right-centerfield fence. Lady Horns infielder Jordan Sommer walked to start the top of the sixth inning and was driven in by Sani Thompson on a double to left field to score their 8th run. Flatonia starting pitcher Annie Charanza struck out the next two batters to keep her team’s lead at 12-8.

The Lady Bulldogs scored the rest of their runs on bunts and grounders that forced Schulenburg to be on their toes and throw the ball around bases. Charanza then hit a sharp grounder up the middle before Hannah Ellis hit a blooper down the right field line to make it a 17-8 ball game. Guzman then decided the game by mercy rule on an infield grounder where all runners were safe, including the runner going home, to notch another run and win their final game of the season with a score of 18-8.

District Tiebreaker Game: Schulenburg vs Ganado Tuesday, April 27, 6 p.m. in Flatonia.