Lady Lions finish third in Round Rock Tourney

The Lady Lion Varsity softball team traveled to Round Rock to participate in a 23 team Round Rock ISD Invitational on Feb. 27-28.

They played two games on Friday and three on Saturday and walked away with a third place finish in the “gold” bracket.

The Lady Lions defeated Holtom (from the Fort Worth/Dallas area) 6-4 on Friday. They scored one run in th

e first inning, three in the second, and two in the fourth.

The Lady Lion bats matched the scorching temperatures. Chelsea Capello was 2-3 with an RBI, Taylor Rives was 2-3 with one RBI, Jessica Henderson was 1-2, and Kassie Gaddis and Brandy Stacks added a single run.

Junior pitcher Jamie Schulle threw a great game staying focused despite several rocky defensive plays behind her. She struck out eight batters and gave up only three hits.

The Lady Lions played a talented team from Waco Midway in the second game of the day. Midway has made several state tournament appearances including one last season.

The Lady Lions jumped ahead in the first inning when Stacks reached second base on an error. C. Capello moved Stacks over to third with a ground ball and Rives brought her in with a deep sacrifice fly to left field.

Lockhart did not score again until the fourth inning, when Schulle scored C. Capello in with a hard hit to the outfield.

The score remained at 2-0 in favor of Lockhart until the last inning, when Waco scored one run on a base hit. The Lady Lions finished strong with a 2-1 victory.

Sophomore Rives pitched a stellar game for the Lady Lions. She struck out six batters.

The Lady Lions faced McNeil High School in the “gold” bracket on Saturday. They battled gusting winds and dirt and took a 4-1 win. Lockhart worked their way on base with several walks and errors. Big hits came from Stacks with a single and two RBI’s and Rives who went 2-3 with two RBI’s.

Schulle tried to keep the ball moving on the mound, despite the horrible wind. She forced several ground outs and struck out four.

Lockhart fell 2-0 in the second game on Saturday against the Westwood Warriors. The Lady Lions committed two errors in the game and it cost them dearly in the end. They could not string enough hits together to score and left six runners on base.

Rives was 2-3, while Stacks, Schulle and Amanda Capello each added a single. Rives struck out seven and gave up four hits.

The final game of the day was against Round Rock High School. Round Rock scored two runs in the first inning, capitalizing on a Lockhart error.
Lockhart answered with two runs in the third inning to tie the game at 2.

The game went into international tiebreaker (ITB) after seven innings and a tied score.

Lockhart played solid defense, stopping any runs from scoring and eventually taking a 5-2 win.

Rives went up to bat with C. Capello on second base. Rives hit a deep shot to right field and moved Capello to third. Veronica Escobedo grabbed an RBI on a hard hit to third, scored Capello and advanced Rives to third.

A.Capello hit a line drive to left field and scored Rives and Escobedo. Briana Ortiz entered the game to pinch hit and kept the rally going with a hit up the middle. Monica Parra also entered the game to assist with base running duties.
Schulle struck out six and gave up only three hits. Schulle and Rives struck out a combined total of 31 batters in the tournament.

The Lady Lions are 8-3-1 on the season. They start district play on Friday, March 6 at Hays and will compete in the Seguin Tourney on March 5-7.
(Courtesy of Alisha Homann)