Marble Falls softball loses close one to Cedar Park
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — The Marble Falls High School softball team took a little longer to exit Scearce Field after a 1-0 loss to Cedar Park on April 9.In the seventh inning and for the third time in the game, the Lady Mustangs stranded the tying run at third base. In all, Marble Falls left 10 runners on base.
“We didn’t get a hit or a bunt in that situation,” Marble Falls head coach Tino Salazar said. “We bunt off the machine. We bunt live. We work on getting a hit in that situation.”
Still, Salazar commended his players and pointed out they continued to battle throughout the game, especially in the first inning.
Illness forced a pitching change with the bases loaded and no outs to begin the game, with junior Amanda Thomas taking off her catcher’s gear and heading to the pitching circle.
She forced a ground ball for the first out and then a popup and a groundout to end the threat.
“I’m very proud of the way we handled the first inning,” Salazar said.
Thomas only gave up three hits, but two in the sixth allowed a Cedar Park runner to score from third. “She threw a really good game, a really smart game,” Salazar said. “It’s exciting to know we have that option.”
The loss to Cedar Park doesn’t eliminate Marble Falls from the playoffs, but it does mean the Lady Mustangs don’t have room for error with three contests left in the regular season: an away game at Cedar Park Vista Ridge on April 12 and home games against Leander Rouse on April 16 and against Dripping Springs on April 19.
Marble Falls needs to beat Vista Ridge and Rouse so the season doesn’t come down to beating Dripping Springs, the No. 2-ranked team in Class 4A.
“(The games) get bigger now,” Salazar said. “We have to win the ones we’re supposed to win.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com
[tabs style=”default”] [tab title=”GAME STATS”]
ON OFFENSE: Marble Falls – hits: Tyler Oppenheim, Skyler Riley and Amanda Thomas; Cedar Park – RBIs: Jess Elder
ON DEFENSE: Winning pitcher (Cedar Park) – Jess Elder no runs, 3 hits, 3 walks, 1 hit by pitch and 7 strikeouts; losing pitcher (Marble Falls) – Amanda Thomas (5-2) 1 earned run off 3 hits with no walks and 3 strikeouts
KEY STAT: Marble Falls stranded 10 runners to Cedar Park’s 5.
RECORDS: Marble Falls is 19-8 overall and 4-5 in District 25-4A; Cedar Park is 6-4 in district play.
UP NEXT: Marble Falls at Cedar Park Vista Ridge, 200 S. Vista Ridge Blvd. in Cedar Park, 7 p.m. April 12.
[/tab] [tab title=”DISTRICT STANDINGS”]
Dripping Springs, 9-0
Leander, 8-2
Cedar Park, 6-4
Marble Falls, 4-5
Leander Rouse, 3-7
Cedar Park Vista Ridge, 2-7
Leander Vandegrift, 1-8
[/tab] [tab title=”PHOTO 2″]
Marble Falls High School senior third baseman Hailey Wooten prepares to throw home to keep a Cedar Park runner from scoring during the first inning April 9. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
[/tab] [tab title=”PHOTO 3″]
Marble Falls High School sophomore shortstop Tyler Oppenheim fields a ground ball and then throws to first base for the third out in the first inning against Cedar Park on April 9. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
[/tab] [/tabs]