SNYDER, TX—The Wall Lady Hawks obliterated the Idalou Lady Cats 20-7 to complete the Area Round sweep in Snyder and advance to the third round of playoffs on Friday.
“It’s great,” Wall head coach Steve Bain said of advancing. “These kids have worked so hard. They spent numerous hours in the summer hitting, pitching, fielding and this is their payoff. This is what they love.
The Lady Hawks blew the game wide open in the top of the first by sending 16 batters to the plate and scoring 10 runs. With that explosive inning, Idalou had no choice but to take out starting pitcher Hannah Flores after just a third of an inning. Rylee Morales highlighted the explosive inning with a grand-slam over the left field wall for the Lady Hawks.
Idalou would leave the bottom of the first scoreless despite having the bases loaded.
The Lady Hawks would once again bust out the hot bats to plate three more runs in the top of the second. Ashlynn Box had a two-run double to right field to plate Taylor Hunt and Rylee Morales. Ashley Dusek would drive in Box on a double off the wall in left field to give the Lady Hawks a 13-0 lead after an inning and a half.
Idalou plated their first run on a bases-loaded walk from Haleigh Woodard off Wall’s Kenzee Smith. Kamarie Spargo and Hannah Gregory would score unearned runs for the Lady Cats to make it 13-3 after two innings.
The Lady Hawks would also notch a bases-loaded walk from Morales in the top of the third inning. Ashlynn Box would also notch two more RBIs with her third hit of the day to extend Wall’s lead to 16-3.
Idalou would put up four in their half of the third inning. Woodard drove in the last two runs of the inning with two outs. After that, the book was closed on Smith in the circle with Wall leading 16-7.
“We definitely need to stay focused and finish,” Bain said. “We need to clean up our mistakes, especially in a game like that. Give credit to Idalou, though. They’re scrappy. They scored a little bit here and there and put pressure on us.”
The Sul Ross-bound senior finished the day with seven runs allowed on four hits with three strikeouts and five walks and the winning decision.
Fellow senior Madi Herrera came in and closed out final two-and-a-third innings, holding Idalou scoreless across that stretch. Herrera has been known to relish situations like that all season, Bain said.
“I’m pretty used to going into situations like this,” Herrera said. “Every time [my mentality] is to give them something to hit because I trust my defense.”
The Lady Hawks got four more runs in the top of the fourth to cap off their scoring at 20 runs. That marks the fourth time this season the Lady Hawks have scored 20 runs or more in a game.
Ashlynn Box led the Lady Hawks offensively by going 4-for-4 with seven RBIs and three runs scored. Morales was second on the team with a 2-for-2 performance with four runs scored and five RBIs.
Flores was on the hook for Idalou in the circle.
The Lady Hawks now await the winner of the Alpine-Slaton series in the third round of playoffs.
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