GLEN ROSE – In a game that featured a 2-hour, 27-minute lightning delay, the Brownwood Lady Lions could not find their footing before nor after the stoppage of play in Friday night’s 10-0 loss to the Krum Lady Cats in the opener of a Region I-4A softball area playoff series.
District 6-4A third seed Brownwood (12-14-1) and District 8-4A champion Krum (24-7-1) will square off in Games 2 and 3, if needed, of the series beginning at noon Saturday – an hour earlier than previously scheduled – back in Glen Rose.
Offensively, the Lady Lions mustered just two hits – both by Mackenzie Welch – and struck out 13 times against Krum hurler Grace Riney.
On the flip side, Brownwood pitcher Tynlea Wilson yielded single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings, then Krum exploded with five in the sixth and two more in the seventh. The Lady Cats tallied 13 hits, drew three walks and the Lady Lions were plagued by seven errors.
Krum scored the only run it needed in the second inning as Gabby Flores reached on a fielder’s choice and came home following a single to left field by Paige Bianchi that rolled away from a diving Jakayla Peek.
Following the long weather delay, play resumed and in the fourth inning where Kinley Johnson reached on a one-out single, coupled with an error in the outfield, and was driven home on an RBI single by Leah Konohia.
The lead reached 3-0 in the fifth as Bianchi led off with a base hit and came home on Haleigh Smith’s two-out RBI single.
Little went right for the Lady Lions in the sixth inning as Krum made its third trip through the batting order. Johnson led off with a single, Konohia followed with a double and Flores walked to load the bases with no outs. Bianchi then singled home a run, Addyson Zimmerman added an RBI on a fielder’s choice, Smith chipped in an RBI base hit, and two final runs come home on an error in the outfield that allowed Addison Martindale to prolong the inning.
Leading 8-0, Krum added two more runs in the seventh as Johnson led off with a double and scored on Konohia’s RBI single, and Zimmerman singled home Konohia.
Brownwood had a chance to score in the bottom of the first inning as Jeniffer Romero laid down a bunt and reached on an error, but was stranded at third base.
Welch reached on a bunt single in the second and Peyton Pena got on board thanks to a leadoff error in the third, but neither advanced past first base.
In the fourth, Kyleigh Caperton laid down a bunt and was able to reach on an error and eventually made it to third base – but not home.
Pena was hit by a pitch in the sixth and Welch singled again in the seventh, but again were left stranded.
The only inning in which Brownwood did not have a base runner was the fifth.
The series winner will advance to face District 7-4A champion Burkburnett (30-6-1) – which knocked off Brownwood’s District 6-4A rival and league runner-up Glen Rose, 4-0 and 2-1 – in the regional quarterfinals next weekend.
