Lady Rams Use One Hit Performance to Take 7-0 Playoff Win Over Latexo

Friday, April 28, 2017, Nacogdoches Dragons Ballpark -  

The Joaquin Lady Rams varsity softball team limited the Latexo Lady Tigers to a single base hit, on Friday, when they took a 7-0, Game 1, bi-district win. The Lady Rams only allowed three total base runners during the contest, two runners reached due to errors in the first and seventh innings. Lady Rams’ pitcher, Lexi Hutchins struck out six batters during the one-hit playoff win.

The Lady Rams hit safely eight times during the contest and walked four times.

Lilly Welch reached base first for Joaquin when she raced to second base after an error by Latexos’ shortstop in the bottom of the first inning. She later scored on a Lexi Hutchins sacrifice fly to right field.

Lanie Stanley doubled in the third inning and Hutchins later scored her with a triple over Latexos’ rightfielder’s head. Darby Hughes scored Hutchins later in the inning when she hit safely to right field to give JHS a 3-0 advantage.

Hits by Ali Harper, Stanley, Hutchins, and Hughes helped the Lady Rams extend their lead, by four more runs, during the bottom of the sixth frame.

Lady Rams Head Coach, and Girl's Athletic Director, Stephen McCann said, “We were pleased with our team’s performance today but feel we can play better. The girls were slightly rusty today because we haven’t played a game for one and a half weeks. Lexi Hutchins pitched well today. We feel she’ll be fine and still has a lot to give. Over all we are pleased to get the win today.”

Updated: Joaquin and Latexo faced off for Game 2 on Saturday. The Lady Rams took an early 3-0 lead and extended it to 6-0 by the second inning, and 7-0 going into the fourth frame. Latexo scored two runs in the final inng but JHS held on for a 8-2 win which clinched the bi-district playoff series.

The Lady Rams will advance to the UIL Area round of the playoffs and will next play Game 1 at West Sabine on Friday, May 5, at 6 p.m.