Lady Lions crush Cards, fall to ‘Cats

Schulle thrills home crowd by pitching perfect game

On Tuesday, March 23, the Lady Lion varsity softball team racked up another win as they defeated the Del Valle Cardinals at home 9-0.

Lockhart scored first and never let up. They continued to force runs into the sixth inning. Jamie Schulle pitched for the Lady Lions, and threw a perfect games with n o walk

s, no hits, and no Cardinal baserunners.

The defense was stellar, according to Coach Alisha Homann, with several key plays to keep Schulle”s game intact.

An outstanding defensive play came from freshman rightfielder Mikaela Flores, who laid out for a shallow pop-fly in the sixth inning. Once again this allowed Schulle to hang on to the title of “perfect” game.

Not only was the defense solid, Schulle herself added six strikeouts to the mix.

Offensively, Lockhart was consistent with several Lady Lions putting up great numbers. Schulle was 3-5 with four RBIs; Taylor Rives went 2-4 with a double; Morgan Rives was 2-4 with a double off the top of the centrifeld fence; Flores was 2-4 with one RBI; Kassie Gaddis was 2-4; Mackinzee Griebel had a single and tow RBIs; and Brandy Stacks logged a single.

On Friday, March 26, the Lady Lions faced their district rival the Elgin Wildcats. Coming into the matchup, both teams were poised for the power-position in District 17-4A, and had earned state rankings from the Texas Press Association Coaches” Poll.

It was definitely a barnburner as the game went to a 12-inning spread.

The third-ranked Wildcats scored in the first inning on an error from the 12th-ranked Lady Lion defense. The score remained 1-0 Elgin until the top of the seventh, when Lockhart had one more try to tie or move ahead in the game.

After two Lady Lions were retired in the seventh, there had to be a rally with two outs. Amanda Capello took the lead by hitting a line drive into right-centerfield. Jarin Hazelett came in to pinch run for Capello, followed by Flores, who sent a single up the middle to put Lockhart in scoring position.

Junior Chelsea Capello ripped a screaming ground ball to load the bases.
Griebel, a freshman, came to the plate at “do or die” time, according to Homann, and performed exceptionally under tremendous pressure – with two outs, the bases loaded and the Lady Lions trailing by one.

Griebel scored the tying run, slapping a hard-hit ball between third and short to score Hazelett.

The score remained tied 1-1 as the game entered ITB (international tie breaker) in the top of the tenth. Both teams held steady until the bottom of the 12th, when Elgin was able to push the winning run across home plate.

T. Rives, a junior, pitched an outstanding game for the Lady Lions, pitching all 12 innings and holding the Wildcats to only five hits, while chalking up four strikeouts. She never tired and relied on solid defensive plays from shortstop Brandy Stacks and the vaccum at third base, C. Capello, to help contain the Wildcats.

Offensively, the Lady Lions out-hit the Wildcats with eight hits to the Wildcats” five. A. Capello was very consistent at the plate, showing a 3-4 performance. Also, adding singles were Schulle, Stacks, Flores, Griebel (game tying RBI), and C. Capello.

Lockhart is now 4-1 in district play and will start round two on Monday night against the Hays Rebels and will have a bye on Thursday night.
(Courtesy of Alisha Homann)