Natalia and Hondo squared off on the Softball diamond in the county seat for the first time in many years last Tuesday, March 7th. Although Natalia was not flawless defensively by any means with five errors, their offense left no question who the better team was. Natalia belted out 20 hits en route to a 12-6 road victory over the 4A Owls.
“We got off to an early start and never really looked back,” Coach Travis Crowley said. “JuJu Morales and Biviana Figueroa had big games offensively for us.”
Natalia jumped on the Owls in their opening at bat, as they used singles by Regina Garza, Bryanna Perez, a triple by Figueroa as well as singled by Felicia Guzman and Daniella Garza to take a 3-0 lead.
Hondo responded in the bottom of the 1st, using an error and a single to their advantage to score one run.
This turned into an early see-saw battle, which resulted in Natalia taking a 7-3 lead into the 5th inning. Natalia truly put this game away in the top of the 5th. The Lady Mustangs used a Gabi Sontoya double, a single by Garza, a walk by Figueroa, a double by Morales and singles by Guzman and Gabby Contreras to score in five big runs giving them a 12-3 lead.
Hondo managed to score three runs in the bottom of the 5th, thanks to a pair of Natalia errors and three singles.
The final two innings were scoreless, as the Lady Mustangs were able to claim the 12-6 road win.
“Again, errors allowed them to hang around, but we are happy we got the overall win,” Crowley said.
Daniella Garza got the win on the mound, as she allowed eleven hits, walked one, struck out eight and allowed six runs, two of which were earned.
At Bat: Garza 3-4-2RBIs, Jasmine Gomez 0-4, Guzman 3-5-1run scored, Contreras 2-5, Perez 2-4-2RBIs-1run scored, Morales 3-5-2RBIs-3runs scored, Garza 3-5-1RBI-2runs scored, Figueroa 2-4-1RBI-3runs scored and Sontoya 2-3-2runs scored.
Defensive Put-Outs: Figueroa 8, Garza 4, Perez 3, Guzman 2, Garza 2, Morales 1, Gomez 1.
By Eric Smith
Staff Writer