Natalia Softball force district leading Poth to extra inning

Lady Mustang #8 Anaya Jones awaits the bat at second.

The Natalia Lady Mustangs gave the Poth Pirettes all they wanted on April 5th in Natalia, as they took the Wilson County squad 8-innings. Unfortunately, the wheels fell off in the extra inning as Poth out-scored Natalia 8-1 en route to a 13-6 victory over the girls in blue.
Natalia scored their first run of the game in the 1st inning and it all began with a Taty Alvaradon single. She was eventually able to score, thanks to an Aracely Segovia error put into play and an error put into play by Sky Gallegos.
This lead stood, until the top of the 3rd inning when Poth was able to produce a two-run inning. The Pirettes did so thanks to a George single, a Castro double, an error put into play by Svoboda and an error put into play by Garcia to produce the offensive effort.
Natalia was able to charge back ahead in the bottom of the 5th inning with a nice two out rally. Segovia was hit by a pitch to start things off. Gallegos was then walked, as Laque got on thanks to putting a ball into play that Poth was unable to handle, resulting in the girls in blue scoring in two to give them a 3-2 lead.

Lady Mustang Valarie Saenz gets ready to throw another one across the plate.

Poth was able to regain the lead in the top of the 7th inning with three runs scored. These came courtesy of a Castro single, a Svoboda single, a Garcia double, a Hopkins SAC fly, a Garcia error put into play into the outfield and a fielder’s choice allowing Poth to take a 5-3 lead into the final at bat in regular innings.
Billalobos began the bottom of the 7th with a base on balls. Segovia then sacrificed to move Segovia over. Gallegos was then able to reach on an error by the Poth short-stop, as Laque singled to center field as Gallegos and Billalobos were able to score on a throwing error to tie the game 5-5.
This one went to one extra inning, but as mentioned the wheels fell off. Poth out-scored Natalia 8-1 to pick up the 13-6 victory.
Billalobos took the loss on the mound for Natalia as she pitched 8.0, allowed seventeen hits, thirteen runs in which only five were earned, struck out one and walked two.
Alvarado and Laque led the offense with two hits each, as Billalobos, Gallegos added one each.

Eric Smith
Staff Writer