Lady Stangs’ rally falls just short
BROWNWOOD — A 9-0 deficit to Brownwood Tuesday wasn’t enough to fire up Marble Falls High School softball coach David Orsag.
The fact that the Lady Lions tried to squeeze in the 10th run in the bottom of the sixth inning did.
As soon as the inning ended, Orsag gathered his players and told them Brownwood was trying to embarrass them.
Marble Falls junior Mattie Counts beats the throw to first base. Courtesy photo
The coach got the change he was looking for.
Junior Mackinzee Mayfield highlighted the seventh inning with a home run.
And though Marble Falls (4-16) still lost the game, 9-5, Orsag said he saw the aggression he wanted at the plate and the never-quit attitude he believes will be crucial to the District 25-4A race.
Marble Falls recorded seven hits with Mayfield, while junior Allison Bendas and freshman Hailey Wooten accounted for two each.
“We didn’t hit the ball hard,” the coach said.
The Lady Mustangs made the final out with runners left on second and third.
Marble Falls turned the game around in the final inning, a far cry of how the players started it.
“We played terrible for six-and-a-half innings,” Orsag said. “We made a bunch of errors, we missed flyballs, made bad throws, just a bunch of things.”
Brownwood scored three runs in the first inning.
“They came out hitting the ball pretty good,” the coach said. “They shouldn’t have scored those. There was a flyball we missed. At the most, they would have gotten one run.”
He also noted the Lady Lions’ aggressive baserunning.
“We made some bad mental mistakes, and it cost us there,” he said.
The coach was at a loss for an explanation of the performance.
“I don’t know if it had something to do with the two-hour drive or not playing when we were supposed to play,” he said.
Before the game, Orsag decided to have junior Payton Peril pitch four innings and freshman Alicia Macias the final three.
The coach wanted Macias, who had not played in a week because of a family emergency, to get some live work in before league play starts.
“She was a little wild,” he said. “That hurt.”
Following the game, the coach said he reminded his players the real race — district play — begins Friday at Lake Travis at 7 p.m.
“Get all that out of your minds,” he recalled saying. “It’s a new season Friday. Everyone’s undefeated. No one’s won a ballgame.”