Marble Falls softball wins Game 3 and bi-district series against Crockett
JENNIFER FIERRO * PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — The Marble Falls High School softball team advanced to the second round of the Class 4A playoffs by beating Austin Crockett 2-1 in Game 3 of a best-of-three series April 27.
“I’m happy to move on,” Lady Mustangs head coach Tino Salazar said.
But the Lady Cougars, Mother Nature and the city of Marble Falls didn’t make it easy.
Earlier in the day, Crockett (20-6) won Game 2 by a score of 3-2, a contest that was an hour late in starting because of backed-up traffic throughout the city thanks to the HITS Triathlon.
Then, a two-hour rain delay seemed like it would help out Marble Falls (22-11), which trailed 3-0. Instead, a diving catch by a Crockett outfielder in the bottom of the seventh inning with the score at 3-2 ended the second contest and sent the series into a third and decisive game.
The Lady Mustangs handed the ball to junior pitcher Amanda Thomas (8-3) after she led the squad to a 14-2 win in Game 1 on April 26.
Thomas gave up one earned run off three hits and struck out six.
“She kept the ball down,” Salazar said. “She made some plays. She spread it out and did a good job.”
Meanwhile, she recorded the game’s first RBI, a single that went to centerfield.
Freshman Makenzie Carpenter earned the other RBI, a double to the left-centerfield gap.
In the first game of the day, Carpenter (14-8) was at pitcher. She gave up one earned run off two hits with seven walks and 15 strikeouts.
“She threw well,” Salazar said, “better than she has in awhile.”
He said after the Lady Mustangs scored 14 runs the night before, he was looking for about the same in Game 2.
Instead, Crockett freshman pitcher Sara Sanders forced plenty of routine groundouts, pop-ups and flyballs.
“Anybody can beat anybody,” Salazar said. “It’s a whole new season. We have to bring our A game.”
Marble Falls will face Lockhart in the area round of the playoffs with format, date and time still to be determined.
jfierro@thepicayune.com