The Littlefield Lady Cats’ varsity softball team held off a late push from the Muleshoe Lady Mules on Tuesday to take their first district meeting at home, 8-4.
With the win, the Lady Cats improve to 10-6 overall, 3-2 in district play.
Senior pitcher, Brookelyn Gau, retired the Lady Mules in order in the top of the first inning and MyKenzie Price singled under the glove of Kylie Hernandez at shortstop to open the bottom half of the inning for Littlefield. Cadence Sanchez drew a walk, before Brookelyn Gau followed it up with an RBI-single that fell in center field to make the score, 1-0.
Katelyn Gau hit a sacrifice grounder to Hernandez at shortstop, who got the out at first, but Alex Tenorio singled on an error by Hernandez at shortstop and Brookelyn Gau scored on a bad throw to first to make the score, 3-0. Taryn Golden struck out swinging for out number two, but Tricia Torres picked up her, knocking a ground rule double over the leftfield fence.
Julie Rodriguez hit a grounder deep in the hole to shortstop that was stopped by Hernandez, but she bobbled it on the transfer, as a run scored, Torres got into a run down between third and home, before diving back to the bag at third, leaving runners on second and third with the score extended to, 4-0.
Kaeleigh Logan, though, would ground out to Hernandez at shortstop to end the inning.
Brookelyn Gau, again, made quick work of the Lady Mules in the top of the second inning, as she got Bianca Cereceres to pop up to Golden at shortstop for out number one and Payton Critchley to pop up to Cadence Sanchez in foul territory at first base for out number two. Hernandez drew a walk to give the Lady Mules their first base runner of the game, but Amri Melton struck out swinging for to retire the side.
Price led off the bottom of the second inning for Littlefield with a double to shallow center field. Cadence Sanchez hit a chopper up the middle, and Price shielded the shortstop before taking off to third allowing Cadence Sanchez to reach base for a single, putting runners on the corners for Littlefield. Cadence took second on a pitch, before Brookelyn Gau struck out swinging for out number one.
Katelyn Gau popped up to Hernandez at shortstop, but Price tagged up and scored from third and Cadence Sanchez took third on the throw home from Hernandez, making the score, 5-0. Tenorio would strike out swinging for the third out to end the inning.
Terrah Dominguez reached base on a dropped third strike that got by Logan behind the plate to give the Lady Mules a base runner to begin the third inning. Alexa Estrada hit a sacrifice grounded to Brookelyn Gau in the circle, who got the out at first, as Dominguez advanced to second on the play. Muleshoe would strand the runner on third, as Araceli Hernandez grounded out to Golden at shortstop and Heaven McMullen struck out swinging to retire the side.
Golden singled over third base to open the bottom of the third for Littlefield and took second on a pitch, before Torres singled through the left side, moving Golden over to third; Torres was able to take second on a bad throw into the infield by Muleshoe. Rodriguez popped up to Melton in the circle, but the ball was dropped, loading the bases for Littlefield.
Logan lined out to center field, and Torres was doubled up on the play at second base, but Golden tagged up and scored form third to push their lead to, 6-0. Price grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
In the fourth inning, Brookelyn Gau continued her work in the circle as she retired the Lady Mules in order, going three up and three down to end the inning. In the bottom half of the side, Cadence Sanchez had a pop up fall in front of home plate that was missed by the catcher, to give Littlefield a base runner.
Brookelyn Gau struck out for out number one, and Katelyn Gau hit into a fielder’s choice to Kylie Hernandez at shortstop, who got the force out at second for out number two. Tenorio hit an RBIdouble to right-center field to stretch the lead to, 7-0, and Golden followed it up with an infield single, beating the throw from third, as Tenorio advanced to third on the throw to first, putting runners on the corners for the Lady Cats.
Golden took second on a pitch, before Torres singled on an error by Melton on the third-base side, allowing Tenorio to score and Golden to take third on the play, making the score, 8-0. Rodriguez, though, would fly out to center field to end the inning.
Both teams went scoreless in the fifth inning, but Muleshoe’s bats began to wake up in the sixth inning, as Elena Cisneros had a single fall in shallow left field. Araceli Hernandez singled to Rodriguez at second base, who made a bad throw to first and Cadence Sanchez made a bad throw home allowing a run to score and Araceli Hernandez to advance to third on the play with no outs, making the score, 8-1.
McMullen hit an RBI-single to right-center field to trim the lead to, 8-2, but Brianna Ruvalcaba popped up to Sanchez at first base, but the ball was dropped and thrown to second for the force out for out number one. Cereceres and Critchley both popped up to Cadence Sanchez at first base to retire the side.
The Lady Cats were kept off of the board in the bottom of the sixth and in the top of the seventh, Natalia Sanchez relieved Brookelyn Gau in the circle.
Kylie Hernandez doubled off of the glove of Price in left field to lead things off for Muleshoe and Melton reached base on a dropped third strike, before Dominguez hit an RBI-single to left-center field, trimming the lead to, 8-3. Cisneros hit a sacrifice grounder to Natalia Sanchez in the circle, who got the out at first as the runners advanced with one out.
Araceli Hernandez hit an RBIsingle to left field to make the score, 8-4, and McMullen drew a walk to load the bases, but Ruvalcaba flew out to price in left field and Cereceres popped up to Golden behind the plate to end the game with the Lady Cats taking the contest, 8-4.
Brookelyn Gau pitched six innings for the Lady Cats, earning six strikeouts, while giving up just one walk and two runs. Natalia Sanchez pitched the final inning for Littlefield, giving up two runs and one walk, while earning one strikeout.
The Lady Cats were at Lamesa on Friday to begin the second half of district play. Results were not available at press time. They will continue their season on Tuesday with a road game against Brownfield.
First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.