The Lady Badger softball team used explosive offense to beat Jarrell Tuesday night in what was a must-win district game on the road.
The 12-10 victory was necessary to keep Lampasas in the hunt for a playoff spot as the girls gear up for their final four district games of the season.
After giving up the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning, the Lady Badgers immediately responded with five runs in the top of the third.
From that point they would lead for the rest of the game, fighting off a couple of different pushes by Jarrell. The most notable of those efforts came around the sixth inning.
The Lady Badgers were up 8-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning before they gave up three runs. That cut their lead to 8-6.
They responded with two runs in the top of the sixth, then put up a zero in the bottom half and scored two more in the top of the seventh inning to separate from Jarrell for a 12-6 advantage. Despite giving up four runs -- three on a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning – the Lady Badgers would hold on for the victory.
This felt like a character win for Lampasas, and head coach Blakeli Brookreson said something similar after the game.
“As a team we’re still growing,” she said. “We have a lot of young girls on this team, and emotions are high right now. But in my brain standings don’t matter. It’s still softball, and we’re still going to play as hard as we possibly can, and we’re still going to scrap our way back up.”
Allie Fry was the biggest standout for the Lady Badger offense, as she picked up three doubles on the night -- including one that had there not been a significant wind blowing in would have left the yard for a home run.
The sophomore was on fire at the plate, hitting out of the two-hole. Her teammates followed suit after she set the tone in the first inning.
Laynee Bretey picked up the hit that broke things open in the third inning, a double with the bases loaded that scored three runs. She picked up another big single to score a run later in the game.
Sagen Plouff legged out a triple that she slapped down the left-field line, and Madison Magilke collected two hits as well.
Kamryn Kothmann also hit the ball well with two hard line outs to center field. She finally found some grass with another well-struck ball that resulted in a single.
Brooklyn Farmer pitched for the Lady Badgers on Tuesday. Although she had her struggles, she battled all night and was able to close out the game.
Credit for the win goes to how hard Lampasas played for the full seven innings. The whole team was engaged, including those in the dugout who were as loud as they’ve been all season.
“It was one of those things where you kind of just have to come out and play as hard as you can and when you do that, it shows,” Brookreson said. “You play as hard as you can no matter what. You don’t let the bad things dictate everything around you, and you come out with the win.”
The Lady Badgers face another must-win scenario tonight when they hit the road to Marble Falls.
The varsity game is set to start around 7 p.m. after the subvarsity game.
