The Brownwood Lady Lions produced the first five runs, but were unable to hold on for their initial District 6-4A softball victory of the season as the Lampasas Lady Badgers stormed back, scoring four times in the top of the seventh inning en route to an 8-6 victory.
The loss, which is the 11th in a row for Brownwood, drops the Lady Lions to 8-14 on the season and 0-6 in 6-4A action. With two league games remaining, Brownwood finds itself in jeopardy of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
The Lady Lions venture to Gatesville (2-4 in league play) – which had its non-district game against Cameron canceled Tuesday night – at 5 p.m. Thursday, and close the regular season at home against Stephenville (1-5 in district) on Friday, April 22.
Leading Lampasas (12-12, 5-1 in district) by a 6-4 count heading to the top of the seventh inning, the Lady Lions fell victim to a Kamryn Kothmann double to start the frame, an RBI triple by Mia Maldonado to trim the deficit to one, and two-run home run over the right field fence by Alycia Cantu, which gave the Lady Badgers their first lead, 7-6. With one out, Hannah Perry then tripled ahead of an RBI single by Hadley Oncken.
Attempting to rally in the bottom of the seventh, Jeniffer Romero reached on a two-out bunt single and Chloe Walls followed with a walk, but the Lady Lions’ comeback ended there.
Brownwood raced out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning as Cecilia Rodriguez led off with a single to center field and scored on Hailey Eisenhauer’s two-out RBI single to left field. Marian Soto and Romero then walked to fill the sacks, where Walls delivered a two-RBI double.
The Lady Lions boosted the lead to 5-0 in the third as Annie-Klein Allgood started the frame with a single to left field, then Rodriguez reached on a misplayed line drive in right field that permitted Allgood to cross the plate. With one out, Tynlea Wilson’s line drive to left field was dropped, allowing Rodriguez to tally the fifth run.
Lampasas scored its first run in the top of the fourth on an RBI ground by Perry, but the Lady Lions answered in the bottom half as Rodriguez’s two-out RBI single single down the right field line brought home Allgood, who walked with two down.
Leading 6-1, the Lady Lions gave up another run in the top of the fifth on Kothmann’s RBI single.
The momentum took a major swing in the bottom of the fifth as the Lady Lions loaded the bases with two outs on a walk by Soto and singles from Romero and Walls, but didn’t score.
Meanwhile, Lampasas closed the gap to 6-4 in the top of the sixth as Kali Hunter beat out a two-out slow roller to second base, which allowed Oncken, who reached on a bunt single, and Perry, who reached on a fielder’s choice, to score as the Lady Lions momentarily lost focus when the final out was not called.
Brownwood finished with nine hits – two each by Walls, Allgood, Rodriguez and Romero and one by Eisenhauer. Walls was credited with two RBIs while Rodriguez and Eisenhauer both knocked in a run.
In the circle, Allgood gave up eight earned runs on 15 hits with one strikeout and one walk. The Lady Lion defense committed two errors.
