SOFTBALL: Lady Chaps finish OC series with a win
The Midland College softball team ended the winning streak for No. 5-ranked Odessa College at 23 games after a 7-5 win in the series finale on Saturday.
SOFTBALL: Lady Chaps split DH with No. 5 OC
Staff Report
Midland Reporter-Telegram
ODESSA, TEXAS - The Midland College softball team ended the winning streak for No. 5-ranked Odessa College at 23 games after a 7-5 win in the series finale on Saturday.
The teams split the doubleheader as the Lady Wranglers won the first game, 7-5. OC took the weekend series, 3-1.
The No. 3-seed Lady Chaparrals (31-18-1, 12-12 in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference) will next play No. 6-seed Frank Phillips College at 3 p.m. Friday in the NJCAA Region V West Tournament in Lubbock.
MC out-hit OC 11-4 in the series finale to get the win as Ciera Avila homered, doubled and drove in three runs for the Lady Chaps.
Also for MC, Aaliyah Hunter was 3-for-4 with a triple, RBI and run scored; Tajanae Davis homered and drove in two runs; while Lauren De La Cruz had two doubles.
Emily Maddux got the win in the circle as she allowed an unearned run on four hits, with one walk and four strikeouts.
The WJCAC champion Lady Wranglers (48-4, 22-2) had to hold off a late rally by MC to get the win in the first game.
OC held a 7-1 lead before the Lady Chaps scored four in the top of the seventh.
Gisselle Dominguez and Zoey De Baca each had to hits to lead MC, while Kaitlyn Gonzales had two RBI.
SOFTBALL: Brown, big innings spark No. 5 OC past Lady Chaps
By Oscar LeRoy
Midland Reporter-Telegram
MIDLAND, TEXAS - It was easy to see why the No. 5-ranked Odessa College softball team has been on such on a hot streak on a warm, breezy Friday afternoon at Midland College.
When the Lady Wranglers are not getting stellar pitching, they are putting together big offensive innings to answer any threats.
Odessa College clinched a Western Junior College Athletic Conference title on Friday as Aydenne Brown pitched a two-hitter for an 8-0 victory in the first game, then it completed a doubleheader sweep of the Lady Chaparrals and extended their winning streak to 22 games with a 9-4 victory in the second game.
The teams conclude the regular season with another doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday at OC.
Brown was her typical outstanding self in the first game as the sophomore ace from Canada allowed just two hits and struck out 11 over seven innings.
"Aydenne always gives us a shot," Jackson said. "She's such a phenomenal talent and it's hard to imagine a future without her sometimes, but I was really impressed with her and her ability to get outs and give us a chance to score some runs."
The Lady Wranglers (47-3, 21-1 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference) gave her plenty of run support early with six runs in the top of the first inning. The Lady Chaps (30-17-1, 11-11) had a chance to get out of that unscathed but OC drew four straight two-out walks before Michaella Baker connected for a grand slam to left field.
"I was really proud of our fight (after two outs)," Jackson said. "That's been kind of the theme of our season. We want to go and score with two outs and want to put pressure on people, no matter the situation."
MC coach Angel Castro said not being able to get anything going against Brown made it tough to answer that rough first inning.
"We had way too many strikeouts," she said. "After that first inning, we kind of settled in but we just couldn't score any runs. It's hard to win a ballgame when you don't score any runs.
"(The first inning) was really frustrating. I felt like we should have gotten a few calls behind the plate, but as a coach you always think your pitcher is doing a great job, so you can't blame it on that."
MC put up more of a fight in the second game and even had a 3-1 lead in the third inning after a two-run single by Lauren De La Cruz.
But just like they did in the first game, OC had a big inning with a seven-run top of the fourth, thanks in part to a three-run double by Morgan Dutton.
"I was really impressed by that (inning) because it was not an easy day to score," Jackson said. "Midland's pitchers did a really good job of kind of keeping off balanced, they kept changing speeds on us, and it us way to long to make adjustments every now and then, and they took advantage of that. But again, I was proud of the team's efforts and simply finding a way to get it done."
The Lady Chaps again could have escaped with minimal damage but a misplayed fly ball in the outfield helped to keep the inning alive. Defensive miscues liked that only added to the frustration for Castro.
"There were a few times that we had two outs and we let a popup drop in the outfield," she said. "I think it could have been a momentum booster going into the second inning without having to change a pitcher out. There were some situations where our defense kind of let us down."
The Lady Chaps will look to get some momentum on Saturday as they head into next weekend's NJCAA Region V West Tournament in Lubbock as the No. 3 seed.
"I think it's going to be big if we can come in, compete and play against these guys," said Castro about Saturday's doubleheader.
Follow Oscar on Twitter: @OLeRoy_MRT
FIRST GAME: Odessa College 8, Midland College 0
Odessa 610 000 1 -- 8 7 1
Midland 000 000 0 -- 0 2 2
Aydenne Brown and Taryn Terpsma. Emily Maddux, Zoey De Baca (2) and Gisselle Dominguez. W – Brown. L – Maddux. HR – OC: Michaella Baker..
SECOND GAME: Odessa College 9, Midland College 4
Odessa 001 710 0 -- 9 12 2
Midland 012 001 0 -- 4 8 1
Fadwa Ben Karim and Morgan Dutton. Maddux, Samantha Rodriguez (4), Lucy Carney (6) and Dominguez. W – Ben Karim. L – Maddux. 2B – OC: Clarisa Zapata; Tajanae Davis, Ciera Avila. HR – OC: Dutton, Reagan Stange..