Fillies Advance to Area Round
It took three exciting games and some fingernail chewing, but the Fillies finally outlasted an upstart Crane team to advance to the Area round of the post season state playoffs.
After dropping game one 4-3 in Crane on Thursday the Fillies came back to even the series at 1-1 with a come from behind 10-7 win on Friday on the Fillies home turf. Game three was played at Midland Christian where the Fillies once again had to make a comeback with two runs in the bottom of the 7th inning and pulled out an 8-7 win and with it a series win that moved them into the Area round this weekend.
In the first game the Fillies had taken a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning and then had an opportunity to make a big statement in the 3rd inning when they loaded the bases with no outs. But Crane pitcher Skler Ortiz settled down striking out two of the next three batters and forcing Heidi Gonzales to pop out to 3rd.
Crane came up with three unearned runs in their half of 4th inning to take a 3-1 lead. The Fillies made it a one run game in the top of the 6th on a Haley Villarreal double that plated Hanna Gonzales who had walked and then stole second.
In the top of the 7th Jewell Santillan nailed a 2 and 2 pitch over the leftfield fence to tie things up at 3-3, but the Lady Birds came back with another unearned run in the bottom of the 7th for the win.
Five Fillie errors led to all four of Crane’s runs to be unearned. This was on the heels of 11 errors in the Brownfield game that led to 10 unearned runs in a 10-9 loss.
Led by Haleigh Gonzales’ 2 hits, the Fillies outhit Crane 8-7, but couldn’t cash in when they had the opportunity. Santillan, Heidi Gonzales, Hanna Gonzales, Kathleen Chavez, and Kelsey De La Rosa all finished with one hit.
All three Fillie runs were earned with Santillan, Chavez, and Villarreal each having one RBI.
Santillan went the distance for the Fillies and took the loss. She gave up seven hits, four unearned runs, had four strikeouts and walked two.
In the second game Crane came out swinging taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning. The Fillies came back to tie things up 3-3 in the third inning and then took a 4-3 lead in the 4th only to see the Lady Birds reclaim the lead with four in the top of the 5th going on top 7-4.
The Fillies came back with another single run in the bottom of the 5th and after hold Crane in check in the top of the 6th exploded for 5 runs in the bottom of the 6th for a 10-7 lead. Crane did get a runner on in the top of the 7th with one out, but Santillan settled down forcing the next two batters to ground out and pop up to end the game.
With one out in the top of the 6th the Fillies strung together five consecutive hits by De La Rosa, Haleigh Gonzales, Santillan, Denisse Saenz, and Heidi Gonzales and a walk to Hanna Gonzales that accounted for the five Fillie runs in the 6th inning.
Johnna Hix, De La Rosa, Heidi Gonzales, and Haleigh Gonzales all finished with 2 hits as part of the 13 hits collected by the Fillies. Santillan, Saenz, and Villarreal all had one hit.
Hanna Gonzales had 3 RBI’s, Heidi Gonzales had 2, and Haleigh Gonzales, Saenz, Bailey Marin, and Hix each had one RBI.
Santillan came on in the first inning for Haleigh and finished out the game getting the win. Haleigh gave up three runs on 3 hits, had no strike outs and walked two. Santillan gave up 4 runs on 7 hits, had 8 strike outs, and two walks.
The decisive third game proved to be the most exciting as both teams had 8 lead changes. Crane broke out on top with one run in the top of the 1st inning and the Fillies came back to tie it up in the bottom of the inning. Crane once again took the lead with a single run in the top of the 2nd only to see the Fillies take their first lead at 3-2 with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
The Fillies upped their lead 5-2 with two more runs in the third inning only to see Crane explode for five runs in their half of the 4th inning and a 7-6 lead. Both team were held in check over the next two innings before the Fillies pulled it out on a Villarreal double that plated Chavez who had walked. Saenz opened the inning with a double, advanced to third, and then scored the tying run on a Crane error.
Villarreal and Saenz led the Fillie hitting attack with 3 hits each, Santillan had 2 hits, and Haleigh Gonzales, Hanna Gonzales, Chavez, and Hix all had one hit.
The Fillies once again relied on the arm of Santillan who went the distance picking up the win. She gave up 7 runs, 4 that were earned, on 12 hits, struck out 2 and walked 2.
The Fillies are hoping to keep their season alive with a 2 of 3 series against Shallowater on Friday and Saturday at Lubbock Christian High School.
Mustang Track Team Captures Regional Title
And just like that the Mustang track team went from far down in the pack to the Regional track champion as a result of first place finishes in the last three races of the meet.
The Mustangs had accumulated 27 points in four earlier events and was 17 points behind Wall and Sonora heading into the final three events. Those early points came from Luke Maxwell finishing 2nd in the 3200 meters, Broedy Burris finishing 2nd in the discus, David Palma with a 6th place finish in the high jump, and a 1st place finish by Cole McLeroy in the 100 meters.
“Everyone was so focused on the last three races that we had runners in no one was really looking at team points,” Athletic Director Steve Taylor said. “I knew Wall and Sonora didn’t have anyone in the 200 or the 1600 so I knew it would go down to the final race of the day, the Mile Relay.”
Mentally Taylor was calculating points in the 200 and 1600 meters were the Mustangs had McLeroy and Maxwell. A 1st place finish by these two individuals would jump the Mustangs up to 47 points, based on 10 points for a first place finish. Since Wall and Sonora had no one running in these two races Taylor knew it would go down to who got the 20 first place points in the Mile Relay. And that’s exactly what happened, McLeroy won the 200 meters and minutes later Maxwell won the 1600 meters.
After the preliminary round in the Mile Relay on Friday the Mustangs had the third best time behind Wall and Sonora. Wall had a time of 3:25.10, Sonora was timed at 3:26.02, and the Mustangs turned in a lackluster time of 3:27, three seconds behind what they had in winning the Area meet one week earlier.
With 20 points riding on a first place finish Jaryd Ivy led off and was in 5th place after handing the baton to David Palma who brought the Mustangs up to 4th place. Running the 3rd leg was Luke Maxwell, who just 20 minutes earlier had won the 1600 meters, and when he handed to Cole McLeroy the Mustangs, Wall, and Sonora were all neck and neck fighting for first place. McLeroy went into first place on the back stretch and then held off a late charge by Wall at the tape to win by two yards and with that the meet championship.
The Mustangs shaved several seconds off their preliminary round and finished with a first place time of 3:22.73; Wall was second with a time of 3:23.23; and Sonora was third with a time of 3:23.62.
“I was the only one who knew we had won the meet,” Taylor said. “Everyone thought we were so far behind, but I knew the teams in front of us didn’t have anyone running in the 200 or 1600 so it would come down the last race. This was a big comeback by our kids.”
The top two places advanced to Austin for the state track meet on May 12-13.
Burris will have the first shot in the discus which is scheduled to get started at 5 pm on Thursday, May 12. Maxwell will run his 3200 meters at 7:20 also on Thursday. McLeroy will run the 100 meters at 7:05 on Friday and his 200 meters at 9:15, Maxwell will run his 1600 meters at 9:45 on Friday, and the Mile Relay, the final race of the meet, will start at 10:15.
They will leave Denver City late Wednesday morning, May 11.
Fillies Close out Track Season at Regional Meet
The Fillie track team closed out their 2016 track season with 14th place finish at the Regional meet held on the campus of Abilene Christian University.
In the running events Karley David had a 12th place finish in the 100 meters and 13th place in the 100 meter hurdles; Cas Moore finished 5th in the 800 meters and 4th in the 1600 meters; and Lupita Guttierrez finished 11th in the 3200 meters.
In the field events Katy Patterson finished in 13th place in the discus; Yesenia Trinidad finished 8th in the high jump and 4th in the pole vault; Karley David finished 3rd in the long jump and will be an alternate to the state meet, and finished 13th in the triple jump.
Coaching the Fillies this year was Megan David and Laura Taylor.
