Bi-District Foe Alpine Too Much for Up-and-Coming Lady Eagles

CRANE, TX-- The Grape Creek Eagles fell Thursday night 10-0 to the Alpine Lady Bucks in the Bi-District round. 

“I don’t think we were aggressive enough on strikes early in the count,” said Grape Creek Head Coach Cara Thiel. “We kind of put ourselves in a hole and [Keyshia Vargas] is a lot better when she has two strikes on us.”

Alpine got off to a quick start on Grape Creek scoring one run in the top of the first inning. Keyshia Vargas retired Grape Creek in order with a ground out and two strike outs to end the inning. 

Rose Bannert struck out Alpine's first batter to start the second but got in a jam quickly. Alpine's Camryn Hardin brought in two runs on a hard hit line drive to right-center field. 

K.C. Gallego brought in Hardin on a triple to left field. Gallego scored the next pitch on a line drive by Annika Canaba that smacked off the bottom of the center field wall to make it 5-0 Alpine. 

Things only got worse for Grape Creek after they allowed two more runs on an error. Bannert was finally able to make it out of the inning alive, but allowed six runs to the Bucks.  

Alpines Vargas continued her strong outing in the second, retiring the side in order once again. Alpine took a 7-0 lead into the third after another scoreless inning by Grape Creek. 

Bannert's struggles continued in the third as she allowed two more Bucks to cross home plate. Vargas allowed the first runner of the game to Grape Creek but was able to get out of the inning without any trouble.

Grape Creek’s Bannert finally got some momentum on her side as she retired Alpine's batters in order in the top of the fourth. Vargas would match Bannert with another one-two-three inning of her own to keep the Eagles scoreless going into the fifth. 

In the fifth, Bannert got through the inning once again without allowing a run. Vargas notched her fifth strikeout of the game as she retired the side in order once again for the fourth time in the game. 

Alpine got another run on the board in the sixth on bunt single by Vanessa Gooch. Grape Creek looked to have a rally going in the bottom of the sixth, but was unable to score and ending the game by a score of 10-0. 

It was a wonderful day in the circle for Vargas as she dominated the Eagles on her way to the win. She went six innings and struck out five Grape Creek batters, while allowing no runs and no hits. 

Bannert would take the loss for the game after allowing 10 runs on hits on 15 hits, while striking out three Lady Bucks. 

Despite the loss Thiel stated, “I really was proud in the way they bought into what I was saying and were very coachable, very positive throughout the season. We end with an overall winning record and that’s something we wanted as one of our goals.”

Alpine (21-10) will advance to the next round of the playoffs in a three game series, while Grape Creek (16-7) looks to build on their success next season.