Vera's Strong Performance Helps Lady Hawks Fend Off Scrappy Idalou

SNYDER, TX— The Wall Lady Hawk softball team claimed the first game of their best-of-three series with a 6-1 result against the Idalou Lady Cats on Thursday.

While the scoreline shows some dominance from the Lady Hawks, the game was anything but easy with Idalou making Wall earn each baserunner and each run.

“Idalou is a scrappy team,” Wall head coach Steve Bain said. “If you look at their games, they’re never out of it. There were a couple of district games where they were down six runs and came back to win. So our mentality was ‘Hey, we’ve got to play.’ We had to finish plays.”

Starting pitchers Izzy Vera for Wall and Annalysia Gonzales for Idalou came out on fire to start the game.

Vera retired nine of the first 10 batters she faced to set the tone for the Lady Hawks.

Gonzales, after allowing a leadoff single to Payton Box to start the game, got to work retiring the next six batters she faced.

However, Wall would jar Idalou’s wheels loose with a six-run inning in the bottom of the third. Those six runs came across on five hits and four errors.

Wall’s Taylor Hunt opened the scoring by trotting home on an error by Idalou’s Hannah Flores to make it 1-0. Kandace Aguilar finished the scoring with a two-run single to left field to make it 6-0 in the third. Aguilar was thrown out at third base on the same play trying to advance two bases on an error with two outs.

“We got lucky there [in the sixth inning] where we were able to bunt and play a little small ball,” Bain said. “We made some plays there. Then we started hitting the ball and we scored some runs.”

Vera would allow her only run in the top of the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly from Sydney Whittle to score Autumn Arguello.

Through the fifth and sixth innings Vera faced one batter over the minimum. Across the bottom half of those innings, the Lady Hawks sent eight batters to the plate leaving three of them stranded and plating no runs heading into the top of the seventh leading by five runs.

Vera found herself in a jam during the final frame after allowing the first two batters on base on a hit and a hit-by-pitch. Ashlynn Box tried to tag out Whittle with nobody out but could not make the play, allowing Kambrie Spargo to reach and load the bases.

Vera struck out Hannah Gregory for the first out with the tying run still threatening in the on-deck circle.

A ground ball to Ashlynn Box allowed her to apply the tag on Whittle and step on third base for the rare game-ending unassisted double-play.

Vera finished the day with one run allowed on four hits with three strikeouts for the winning decision.

“[I saw] that confidence,” Bain said of Vera. “I think she knows she has a really good defense behind her. She goes and she does her job. She pitches and hits her spots. She knows these kids have her back. It’s pretty awesome to see that.”

Gonzales was charged with the loss for Idalou in her six innings of work.

Aguilar was the only Lady Hawk with multiple RBIs (2). She had one hit on the day. Ashley Dusek and Kenzee Smith had identical stats with a 2-for-3 performance and an RBI and a run scored in the win. Vera also had two hits for the Lady Hawks.

The Lady Hawks will look for the sweep of Idalou tomorrow at 5 p.m. in Snyder.