The Levelland Loboettes softball team went on the road to face the Muleshoe Lady Mules this past Tuesday night, falling to them 19-11.
The Loboettes held a 4-3 lead after the first inning, but Muleshoe would respond by outscoring them 13-2 in the next three frames. The Loboettes would rally a comeback and outscore them 5-3 in the final three innings, but ultimately, the deficit was too large to overcome.
“Muleshoe’s pitcher did a great job of keeping us off balance and making us chase pitches we wouldn’t normally chase,” Loboettes Head Softball Coach Adrian Holland said. “They hit the ball very well and had the momentum for most of the night. We started hot with four runs in the first inning and then the error bug hit us. We had five errors on the day and made mistakes we don’t normally make. We learned from this loss and all the girls know the importance of playing good defense in each game. I am still proud of these girls for fighting at the plate, but we just ran out of time. On to the next game.”
Those Levelland errors produced six unearned runs for Muleshoe, and while the Lady Mules also committed five errors, it only translated to four unearned runs for the Loboettes.
Defensively, the Loboettes will grow from that experience, meanwhile offensively, they’ll try to ride the momentum of a great game where they produced 13 hits, which included six extrabase hits.
That effort was led by first baseman Adrianna Castellano who went 2/4 at the plate with five runs-battedin, a home run and a run scored, followed by second baseman Delaney Delgado who went 3/5 with two doubles and a run scored, left fielder Mia Sepulbeda who went 2/5 with an RBI and a run scored, Destinee Olivas who went 2/4 with a home run and an RBI, and center fielder Tiffany File who went ¼ with a hit, two runs scored and an RBI.
On the mound, Jocelynn Arriaga pitched 3.2 innings before being relieved by Delaney Delgado, who pitched 2.1 innings and only surrendered one earned run while striking out two batters.
The loss drops the Loboettes to 10-3 overall this season. They’ll be back in action over the weekend at the Saginaw Tournament, where they’ll face Stephenville, Chisholm Trail, Richland, Cleburne, Eagle Mountain and Brewer Junior Varsity.