Trailing in meaningful games isn?t something the Midway softball team does often, but it didn?t make much difference Friday.
After giving up two runs in the top of the first, Midway stabilized to beat visiting Mansfield Summit, 6-2, in Game 1 of a three-game Class 4A bi-district series. Midway will go for the sweep as the set heads to Mansfield today for a noon start for Game 2. Game 3 will follow if necessary.
Midway won state in 2010 and qualified for its second consecutive state berth last year. The Pantherettes took their first step Friday toward making it three straight, but they had to overcome some immediate adversity to get there.
?We haven?t trailed a lot this whole season,? leadoff hitter Monique Miller said. ?It?s not hard for us to bounce back, but it takes a lot out of us to come back and score some runs. When we have to play from behind it pushes us harder to come back and want it even more.?
The spring wind, which blew in fiercely for most of the day, flattened out Midway starter Katie Neal?s crafty repertoire of finesse pitches just enough to allow the Lady Jaguars a small opening in the first inning.?
Blair Kramer poked a fluttering single into the outfield, and an infield error put on a second runner. Jazmin Robinson pushed across both runners when she pulled a double into left to stake Summit to a 2-0 lead just four batters into the game.
After a 10-0 district season during which most of the games were blowouts, it wasn?t a familiar position for the Pantherettes.
?We haven?t played a whole lot of games throughout district that were really close,? Midway coach Michelle Edwards said. ?So preparation for the playoffs have been hard for us ... We?ve really been trying to tell the girls that you?ve got to play under pressure.?
Midway didn?t dally and leveled in the bottom half of the frame. Taylor Mordecai ripped a double that scored Amy Feind, and a misplayed throw moved her to third. That allowed Courtney Colunga to loft a deep sac fly and bring Mordecai trotting home to square the game at two runs apiece.
?(Mordecai) comes up and she always does very good,? Miller said. ?Coming back with two runs, that was a great feeling.?
Both teams continually missed opportunities to pull ahead. Summit loaded the bases with two outs in the third inning, but Neal got Nicki Owen to pop out. Midway, meanwhile, put runners on second and third with just one out on a pair of hits from Colunga and Meredith Bristow, but starter Brianna Massey, who went all seven and surrendered 10 Midway hits, retired the next two runners to douse the threat.
Midway?s breakthrough finally came with the benefit of a Summit miscue. In the fourth inning, Feind stung a roller to the second baseman, but the ball rolled through her legs and into the outfield. Miller, who had just stolen second, motored around and scored for a 3-2 lead.
Midway added to it in the fifth off another Summit error. Allison Cooper laid down a sac bunt that moved up Bristow, who tried to stretch the play into an extra bag by taking third. The throw flew past the third baseman and Bristow sprung up and flew home to make it 4-2.
Feind and Bristow tacked on insurance runs in the sixth with a pair of RBI singles. Bristow was 2-for-2 with a pair of walks.
Meanwhile, Guffey came on for Neal in the fifth and attacked the strike zone vigorously, her zippy pitches providing a nice contrast to Neal?s style. She protected Midway?s lead by striking out six of the 11 batters she faced and only gave up a single hit.
Crowley 22, Waco High 1: Crowley used three big innings to roll past Waco High in a one-game bi-district playoff in five innings.
The Lady Eagles scored seven runs in the first, nine in the third and five in the fourth in the win.
Waco High finishes its season at 12-15.
Troy 8, Italy 6: In Glen Rose, Troy built a commanding lead before withstanding a furious Italy rally to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three series.
Game 2 will be played at 6 p.m. Monday at the Waco ISD Spring Sports Complex, with Game 3 to follow, if necessary.
The Trojanettes busted the game open with a four-run fifth inning to take a 7-1 advantage behind Alicia Vasquez?s four RBIs.
Alyssa Richards, who drove in all six of Italy?s runs, hit a three-run homer in the sixth and a two-run double in the seventh to get the Lady Gladiators within 8-6. But Ashley Downing got Bailey Bumpus to line out with runners on second and third to end the game.
Baseball
Waco High 3, San Angelo Lake View 2: In Stephenville, the Waco High baseball team reached the playoffs for the second straight season.
The Lions were scoreless for five innings in a District 8-4A fourth-place tiebreaker with San Angelo Lake View but struck for one run in the sixth and two in the seventh to take the district?s final postseason spot.
?Any time you can extend your season and get extra playing time on the field, it?s helpful,? Waco High coach Brian Strickland said. ?The playoffs are something you shoot for, and it was our goal to get back after last season. It?s the first time in a long time that Waco High?s done that in back-to-back years.?
Lake View (9-17) scored twice in the third inning for the 3-2 lead, but Justin Rodriguez scored Tyler Massey with a groundout in the sixth to cut the Waco High (7-19) deficit in half. Trayvond Brooks led off the seventh-inning rally with a single and scored on an Adrian Norwood double to level the score.
Norwood came in on an error after Demetrius Scott laid down a bunt to score the go-ahead run, and Rodriguez closed out the complete game on the mound with a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh.
?I don?t think we?ve had a come-from-behind win like that all year,? Strickland said. ?But we were patient at the plate, we got a couple walks and we took advantage of it. Norwood came up with a big hit, and we executed some small ball things.?
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