Sachse catcher Kendyl Cruz applied the tag on Rockwall base runner Kendall Scroggins during Game 1 of a Class 6A Division I bi-district playoff series Wednesday, April 23, from Sachse. Photo by Tina Lopez / C&S Media
By David Wolman
The Sachse softball team was on the brink of being run-ruled.
Rockwall led 9-0 in the fourth inning of Game 1 of a Class 6A Division I bi-district playoff series and Sachse’s batters struggled to time up their bats with the velocity of Yellowjackets pitcher McKinley Mann.
But when Rockwall decided to bring in Addyson Solberg in relief for Mann just two innings later, Sachse got down its timing and proceeded to make a game of it.
The Lady Mustangs got as close as 9-4 after a three-run home run by sophomore Maya McClarity and an infield single by junior Brooke Robinson, but that was as close as Sachse got in an eventual 10-4 home loss Wednesday night.
Rockwall leads the best-of-three series 1-0. Sachse will look to keep its season alive at 7 p.m. tonight at Rockwall. If necessary, Game 3 will be played Friday night at 6 p.m. at Highland Park.
Despite the Game 1 loss, Sachse head coach Pete Vamvakas feels optimistic about his team’s chances, especially given the determination that the Lady Mustangs showed to attempt a furious rally after they trailed by nine runs.
“Absolutely,” he said. “It doesn’t show on the scoreboard, but we did a lot of positive things that are going to carry into (Thursday), so I feel really good about our chances.”
Sachse was held without a hit prior to McClarity’s home run, although the Lady Mustangs had chances. Sachse drew six walks on the night but was unable to capitalize. Logan Schultz and Xochitl Mendez drew back-to-back walks to lead off the home half of the second inning, but a strikeout and a double play ended that threat.
Defensively, Sachse struggled to finish innings. Five of the 10 runs that Rockwall scored came with two outs.
Trailing 2-0 in the top of the second inning, the Lady Mustangs were one strike away from getting out of the inning without allowing any more runs.
One swing by Addison Edgington was all that it took for Rockwall to further separate itself from Sachse. Facing a 0-2 count with two outs, Edington skied a two-run home run over the wall in left field for a 4-0 Yellowjackets lead.
Rockwall increased its lead to 6-0 on RBI singles by Kendall Scroggins and Daniela Guajardo and later 9-0 following a Presley Brott RBI ground-out.
In search of a spark, Sachse brought in McClarity to pitch in the fourth inning and she proceeded to hold Rockwall to just one run over the game’s final three innings, giving the Lady Mustangs a realistic chance of getting back into the game.
McClarity took matters into her own hands at the plate.
The Sachse sophomore, who struck out in each of her first two at bats, lined a three-run home run over the wall in center field in the home half of the sixth to reduce the Lady Mustangs’ deficit to 9-3.
“When it’s power against power, one of them is going to win,” Vamvakas said. “Unfortunately for her, in her first two at bats, she didn’t get the clutch hit. That third at bat, she crushed that ball. It hit the front hood on one of those trucks out there. She got a lot on it.”
Following a walk by Schultz and a hit by pitch to Mendoza, Robinson placed an infield single barely out of the reach of a Rockwall infielder to drive home the fourth Sachse run of the inning and cut the Yellowjackets’ lead to 9-4.
Not wanting to give Sachse a chance at putting together another big inning, Mann re-entered the game for Rockwall in the seventh inning.
Mann stuck out the first two Lady Mustangs that she faced and then induced a line-drive out off the bat of McClarity to end the ballgame. Mann recorded 14 strikeouts and the Yellowjackets’ pitching staff, as a whole, finished with 17 strikeouts.
“She’s unbelievable,” Vamvakas said. “The last time that we saw her, it was in the playoffs last year, and we saw her for a couple of innings. We knew what she could do. We knew that she could throw hard. We’ve just got to do better of being on time with our swings.”
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