Marble Falls softball loses to Taylor
CAPTION: Assistant coach Hailey Wooten congratulates senior Sophia Biagini for a big hit that brought runners home against Taylor. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School softball team lost to Taylor 9-6 March 29 to begin the second round of District 24-4A play.
The win is the Lady Ducks’ first in district play.
But Taylor (1-6) had been showing signs that its record was better than it indicated. They had leads against Lampasas and Jarrell in the first round only to see the opponents come back to win.
The Lady Ducks put it all together against the Lady Mustangs (2-5) and made the race for the final playoff spot even tighter.
“Jarrell (3-4) is in the driver’s seat,” Marble Falls head coach Alex Lozoya said. “It’s up for grabs for whomever can be consistent. What we lost was our ability to control our own destiny. And all (the Lady Ducks) did was put themselves in the situation.”
Senior lead-off batter Kylie Roberts and sophomore Jocelyn Suarez got on base to begin the game. After two outs, senior Sophia Biagini hit a 2 RBI double that hit the wall to bring them home and give Marble Falls the lead.
But the Lady Ducks responded with two runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Taylor added two more in the second inning before the Lady Mustangs tied the contest in the fifth inning.
The Lady Ducks scored five runs in the bottom of the inning with most of the damage coming after two outs. Taylor singled, then doubled, then singled, then doubled.
“We just couldn’t get the third out before they scored,” Lozoya said.
Freshman pitcher Brooklynn Damico started the contest.
“I think Brooklynn did a good job of giving us an opportunity to make plays, and we did not,” Lozoya said. “I thought Brooklynn threw a good game. But Marble Falls’ defense gave Taylor’s offense extra opportunities to capitalize. They made plays when they needed to make plays, and we did not.”
Roberts had 3 hits and 3 runs scored, while Rylee Frisch had 2 hits and a RBI. Cheyenne Thompson had a RBI.
The Lady Ducks started freshman pitcher Payton Burrow instead of sophomore pitcher Analh Arroyo. Burrow, who has been starting a few games since Taylor lost to Marble Falls 10-4 March 4, allowed 2 earned runs and walked 2 en route to striking out 7. Arroyo took over in the seventh inning and allowed 2 unearned runs while striking out 4.
Marble Falls left the bases loaded twice and struck out 11 times.
“We did not have a very good night offensively,” Lozoya said. “(We’re) trying to make an impact and create momentum; (some) didn’t come through. The comment I made at the end of our postgame meeting was ‘yes, big-time players make big-time plays in big-time situations, but sometimes taking ball four is a big-time play. Sometimes not swinging at ball four is a big-time play. Sometimes catching the ball in foul territory is a big-time play. The routine is always going to be a big-time play in our sport.’ That’s why we just didn’t do a very good job on offense.”
Marble Falls welcomes Georgetown Gateway (15-1-2, 5-1) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 1. The Lady Gators are second in the district.
Lozoya emphasized there’s plenty to play for and a lot to be decided.
“It doesn’t eliminate us,” he said of the loss to Taylor. “There’s three or four teams fighting for one spot. All we lost is a chance to control our own destiny.”
