Marble Falls softball wins 1st tourney of the season

The Marble Falls High School softball team won the Third Annual Ingram Kerr County Classic hosted by Ingram Tom Moore Feb. 13-15.

“It was a good weekend for the girls, good weekend for the kids,” head coach Alex Lozoya said. “Sometimes they need to see something tangible to know they’re headed in the right direction.”

Before taking the field against Comfort in the final game of the event, he was told that if the Lady Mustangs shut out the Deer, they would be the tournament champions.

Marble Falls left no doubt in winning 18-0 highlighted by a grand slam by Jocelyn Suarez. Callie Phillips and Khloe Hollingsworth also had 4 RBI apiece.

Freshman pitchers Brooklyn Damico and Callie Phillips split time in the circle. Neither allowed Comfort to record a hit in the three-inning contest.

At one point, the Lady Mustangs (6-1) enjoyed a five-game winning streak, the program’s longest in several years.

Lozoya attributed many factors to the winning streak that included wins against Leakey 8-0 and Ingram 14-0 both on Feb. 14 and Bandera 11-3 and Junction 18-4 both on Feb. 13.

The only blemish was a 9-2 loss to Johnson City Feb. 15, which had 6 earned runs off 12 hits and the Lady Mustangs recorded five errors. Cheyenne Thompson recorded Marble Falls’ only RBI, while Phillips had 2 hits.

Marble Falls hit multiple doubles throughout the lineup that helped lead to the lopsided scores in wins.

Against Leakey, Phillips and Cheyenne Blair each had 2 RBI.

Against Ingram, Kylie Roberts hit a homer en route to earning 3 RBI, while Thompson and Kierstyn Plumlee each had 2.

Against Bandera, Roberts and Blair each had 3 RBI, while Mackenzie Grider added 2.

Against Junction, Thompson and Hollingsworth each had 3 RBI.

Pitcher Phillips struck out 5 Leakey batters and allowed 3 hits and a walk in four innings. Damico scattered 5 Ingram hits and struck out 1 and walked 1 batter in four innings. Phillips allowed 3 earned runs off 4 Bandera hits and struck out five. Against Junction, Damico allowed 3 earned runs off 3 hits and struck out six.

Perhaps one inning illustrated how far the program has come. It happened against Ingram when the Warriors had bases loaded with no outs. Lozoya called a timeout and huddled with the pitcher and catcher, while assistant coach Hailey Wooten talked with the infielders and assistant coach Aspen Wooten spoke with the outfielders.

Each coach basically went over each scenario if the ball was hit to one of their players, so everyone knew what to do. And Lozoya said that was the underlying message – we’ve practiced this already, so be confident in yourselves and your teammates.

The batter hit to shortstop Suarez, who threw home for the first out. The second batter hit to third baseman Thompson, who threw home for the second out. The final out was a strikeout where Marble Falls didn’t allow a single run.

Not so long ago in the same situation, opponents would score multiple runs against the Lady Mustangs en route to a win. But not in that game, the coach said.

“We got out of the inning,” he said. “Brooklyn and Callie did a great job. There was a lot of growth. You have to understand this. You have to believe you can make a play. Callie and Brooklyn gave us a chance by throwing strikes. We were fortunate to make plays.”

Going into the final day of the tournament that began with facing Johnson City, Lozoya huddled Wooten and Howie and told them he was curious to see how the Lady Mustangs responded once the game ended, regardless of outcome.

Johnson City is known for its softball program. Many of the players on both squads play together and with each other on select teams. Once the contest ended, Lozoya said he saw some anger from his players that illustrated they believed they were better than the score indicated.

Then they got ready to play Comfort.

“I believe they responded the right way,” he said. “I hate losing to my friends. There are certain teams you don’t like losing to. We still have a chance to go win something. Our warmup picked up, our enthusiasm picked up.”

As happy as the Lady Mustangs and their fans are to see the ball go over the fence for home runs, Lozoya also credited the middle and bottom of the batting order for getting on base with either hits, walks or being hit by pitches.

“They did a good job of getting it to the top of the order,” he said.

But perhaps the biggest reason for the early success is what the Lady Mustangs do away from the ball park.

They play games, including Charades and karaoke, where they are comfortable enough around each other to show their senses of humor and ability to laugh at themselves.

“They have a lot of personality,” Lozoya said. “This group is a lot of fun. This group seems to get along. They understand they have opportunities to compete.”

Marble Falls travels to Canyon Lake Tuesday, Feb. 18, with the varsity game time either at 5 p.m. or 7 p.m. because of the weather.