Split Decision on the Diamond For La Grange Tuesday Night
Baseball Wins But Softball Loses in District Battles
It was an exciting night on the diamonds as both the baseball and softball teams for La Grange High School competed on their home turf Tuesday.
Leps Bash Eastside
The baseball team started the action by earning a 13-1 victory over Austin Eastside.
“We pitched really well,” said La Grange head baseball coach Robert Barber. “Kadyn Hall got out there and threw strikes for us.” Hall delivered 51 pitches in five innings of work. “That’s almost 10 pitches an inning and our goal is 13 or less,” Barber said. “We met our goal and that was big to start the game off right there. Then we came back in the bottom half of the first and put up a quick five spot on them. We were doing a great job offensively, hitting the ball hard. We just kept adding on and kept adding on. Kadyn pitched a great game.”
District 20-4A baseball
La Grange 2-0
Smithville 2-0
Giddings 2-0
Manor 0-2
Austin LBJ 0-2
Eastside 0-2
Lady Leps Lose 10-9 to Smithville
The softball team took Smithville High School to the bottom of the seventh inning as they fell 10-9 on a last inning rally from the Tigers that was preceded by a rally from La Grange in the fourth and fifth innings.
“We had a lot of mistakes early that cost us,” said La Grange head softball coach Amanda Arlund. “A lot of throws that shouldn’t have happened, a lot of little errors. But they cost us because they’re a good team.
“You can’t make those mistakes against a fast, aggressive team. We learn from it, we grow from it, and learn for the next game. But we also did a lot of great things. Our pitchers kept their leadoff batter off the bases and that’s huge because she’s a great player.
“I’m really proud of them for that. Marissa (Gonzales) came in and did a great job late in the game with a lot of pressure on her. For a freshman, that’s huge and it shows great premise for the future. We battled hard and we’ve got to just look to the future from here and know that if we don’t make those mistakes next game, that it’s our ballgame for sure.”
La Grange falls to 3-1 in district play. Smithville takes over first with a 4-0 district record.
Smithville went up 3-0 in the first inning with a walk, stolen base, and a few base hits that were answered by La Grange in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead to 3-1 on a bases loaded jam that was able to send junior center-fielder Kailee Jones home.
The Lady Leps scored another run in the second inning and didn’t score again until the bottom of the fourth inning while Smithville tacked on the runs for a 7-2 game.
The fourth inning rally was what sparked La Grange for a comeback in the making. Smithville walked in a run, then Jones drove in a run on a hard-hit ball to the pitcher that was bobbled. Senior outfielder Natalie Blackwell then drove in two more runs to make it a 7-6 contest before infielder Missy Muras gave the Leopards their first lead of the night by hitting a bullet to the left field fence as the scoreboard read 8-7. La Grange scored another run in the inning to take a 9-7 advantage going into the top of the fifth inning. Smithville fought back and loaded the bases that eventually put them at only a 9-8 deficit with some hits that included a double and a sacrifice bunt. The Tigers tied the game at nine a piece in the top of the seventh inning on a deep fly ball that went all the way to the warning track. The ball was caught and a runner tagged up from third base to score at home. A couple plays later, Smithville hit a chopper up the middle, but the throw to first was errant, which scored the runner from third base and the Tigers regained their lead back at 10-9. La Grange threatened in the bottom of the seventh with a runner on first until a fly ball to right field was caught and thrown to second for a runner tagging up that resulted in an out, doubleplay, and a 10-9 win for Smithville.