Mother Nature canceled day two of the Dilley Softball bash last weekend in Frio County, but the Lady Mustangs still managed to get three games under their belt. Natalia was at full strength in one of three games Friday due to Regional Powerlifting, as they finished the day winning two of three contests.
Freer
Natalia opened the tournament at full strength versus a Freer squad who was without a few starters due to the Regional Lift Meet.
The girls in blue showed no mercy on the Lady Bucs, as they dominated the 3A squad from start to finish. Natalia belted out 22 hits as the defense held Freer to a single hit in the 5-inning contest.
As a result Natalia coasted to a 17-0 victory over the former district foe.
Daniella Garza picked up the victory on the mound, as she allowed the 1 hit as mentioned, walked 0 and struck out 7 in the game.
Defensively, the Lady Mustangs had 12 put-outs with no errors as catcher Biviana Figueroa led the defense with 7 of the 12 put-outs.
At Bat: Daniella Garza 3-4-1HR-2RBIs-2runs scored, Jasmine Gomez 1-2-1RBI, Sam Sanchez 0-1, Felicia Guzman 3-4-1HR-3RBIs-2runs scored, Gabby Contreras 2-4-1run scored, Camryn Arizola 0-1, Bryanna Perez 1-4, JuJu Morales 1-2-1RBI-1run scored, Regina Garza 3-3-1RBI-3runs scored, Dezarea Perez 2-2-1HR-3RBIs-1run scored, Figueroa 4-4-4RBIs-3runs scored and Gabiu Sontoya 2-2-1HR-1RBI-4runs scored.
Poteet
Natalia was without a handful of starters during their second contest of the day, but the girls in blue still managed to work past the Poteet Lady Aggies.
Garza took the mound once again for the Lady Mustangs, as she pitched 5.0 innings. During this game, she surrendered 6 hits also accounting for 6 Ks in the game. At the end of the game, the one stat that stood out was the fact Poteet earned 0 of their runs due to errors by the Natalia defense.
Natalia took an early lead versus the Atascosa County squad, as they used a Bryanna Perez single, a Garza double, a Figueroa double and a Contreras single to score three early runs.
After surrendering just one single defensively in the first two innings, the girls in blue went back to work in the bottom of the 2nd inning.
Natalia used singles by Kassie Tristan, Garza, Figueroa and Guzman to add two runs to their lead putting them in command of the girls from the Strawberry Capital.
Poteet managed to make it a game in the 3rd inning, as they used three singles and two errors to their advantage resulting in a 4-run inning.
Natalia responded in the bottom of the 3rd, adding a run thanks to singles by Sontoya and Raven Sanchez.
After holding Poteet in the top of the 4th, the Lady Mustangs scored their final three runs in the bottom of the 4th. This came courtesy of a Garza double, a base on balls by Figueroa, a double by Guzman and singles by Contreras and Sontoya. This allowed Natalia to hold a 9-4 lead.
Poteet scored one final run in the 5th, but it was not enough as the Lady Mustangs capped off a 9-5 victory.
The Natalia Lady Mustang offense finished the game with 17 hits as they held Poteet to 6.
At Bat: Garza 4-4-1RBI-3runs scored, Guzman 3-4-4RBIs, Contreras 2-3-1run scored, Arizola 0-3, Perez 1-4-1run scored, Figueroa 3-3-1RBI-2runs scored, Sontoya 2-3-1run scored, Tristan 1-3-1run scored and Sanchez 1-3.
Put Outs: Figueroa 6, Garza 3, Perez 2, Tristan 2, Guzman 1, Contreras 1.
Pearsall
The night-cap game Friday featured the Lady Mustangs and the talented Pearsall Lady Mavericks. This was a re-match of the Dilley Tourney title from a season ago, but the only problem was Natalia was without a big portion of their line-up for a second straight game. This time around, it proved costly.
Guzman took the mound for the girls in blue, pitching 4.0 innings as she allowed 14 hits in the contest with 1 K.
Pearsall put too much pressure on the Natalia defense from start to finish and was able to work past the Lady Mustangs in a 13-1 run rule victory.
Natalia’s lone run came in the 4th inning, thanks to a Perez double and a Figueroa single.
Pearsall finished the game out-hitting the Lady Mustangs 15-7 as Natalia’s defense surrendered 4 errors compared to 0 by the Lady Mavs.
At Bat: Garza 0-2, Guzman 1-2, Contreras 0-1, Arizola 0-1, Perez 1-2-1run scored, Figueroa 1-2, Sontoya 0-1, Tristan 0-1 and Sanchez 0-1.
Put Outs: Guzman 4, Figueroa 3, Garza 2, Sanchez 1, Perez 1, Contreras 1.
Upcoming Games
Natalia was on the road on press night battling a struggling Hondo Owl ball team. This coming Friday, the Lady Mustangs travel to the Cowboy Capital for their final non-district battle versus the Bandera Lady Bulldogs. The first varsity pitch is set for 7:00 p.m.
On Monday, March 13th a competitive and challenging 26-3A begins as the highly touted Jourdanton Squaws come to town for a 1:00 p.m. re-match from a non-district drilling during the J-Town Tourney two weeks ago.
Jourdanton has to be the favorite to win 26-3A, until someone proves otherwise. Although Jourdanton remains without their stud senior pitcher, they have a talented freshman, a talented junior and five other senior starters who make up the meat of their ball team.
By Eric Smith
Staff Writer