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Dyes Park held day two of the ASA Girl’s 18 and under “Gold” Sector 3 Qualifier on Saturday. With a two game elimination, the teams in the Loser’s bracket were fighting to stay alive to play another game.
The winners in each game will play several games throughout the day with the last game starting at 9:00 p.m. in hopes to make it to the Championship on Sunday.
The Katy Heat from Houston and the Texas Challengers from San Antonio went into their game both with a needed win mentality. The victorious team would continue to play and the other team would be sent home.
Both teams had hot bats and capitalized on their hits, entering the fifth inning with Katy only leading by one with a score of 4-3. Katy started the hits in the top of the fifth with the pitcher, Sarah Blair’s double to right field but the Challenger’s fielding left Blair’s base runner stranded on third as San Antonio put the bats back in their hands.
The Challenger’s started with a single that landed Monica Acuna on first. Victoria Beltran brought Acuna home to tie the score after triple to center field. Next Lindsey Santana stepped up to the plate. Santana hit a hard grounder to the shortstop that gave Beltran time to run home and take the lead going into the sixth.
The pressure was on the Heat to keep the game alive and score a run. The Challenger’s fielding stepped up again to make the needed plays. They closed the top of the sixth and the game with a final score of 5-4.
Texas Challenger’s coach, Roger Flores, “This was a must win for us. We have not had one practice with the whole team so we needed to focus on playing well and get into a groove as a group.”
On another field the Texas Travelers from Mesquite were playing to stay alive against Orange Crush from Orange, Texas.
The Travelers were first at bat and Kali Johnson started the hits and the scoring by making her way around the bases and coming home off a loose ball to put the first run on the board. The defense by both teams made the teams struggle to get around the diamond. As the sun beated down on the players the sixth and final inning gave the Traveler’s their second wind.
Orange Crush’s pitcher placed the ball right were the Traveler’s liked it, as they started connecting with every pitch. Sarah Bell hit a single to left field, Holly Eckert found the hole past second base and Sandy James landed herself on first. With the bases loaded Bell was brought home off a single and then Sierra Smith hit in Eckert for the fourth run.
The hits continued as James ran home off Johnson’s grounder and then with Kersti Rowan’s walk the sixth and final run ended the rally and the game with a final score of 6-0.
Teaxs Travelers coach, John Wardlow, “I love the competition out here, we come every year for the Qualifier. We travel a lot but we have produced 120 girls that have played in college.”
Stay tuned to the Athlete’s Connection for video highlights and the winners of the tournament.
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