RETRIBUTION

When the Gonzales Lady Apaches and Nixon-Smiley Lady Mustangs met at the Lehman Tournament in late February, the Lady Apaches roughed up their in-county rival, taking a 12-2 run-rule victory.

The teams met again on Friday night in Nixon. This time it was the Lady Mustangs who came out slugging and took the 21-8 run-rule victory at a cold and blustery Mustang Field.

After a quick 1-2-3 top of the first, the Lady Mustangs went to work with the bats. A ground out by Kendall Amaya plated Haile Houseton, who led off with a double. Following a single, a walk and a fly out, Haven Davis cleared the bases with a double to left to give Nixon-Smiley a 4-0 lead.

Gonzales responded with a run in the top of the second. Amaya Rodriguez reached on a one-out double and came around to score on a single by Abbie Villanueva. But that would be as close as the Lady Apaches would get for the rest of the evening.

The Lady Mustangs blew the game open in the bottom of the second, sending 17 batters to the plate and scoring 13 runs, all with two outs. A combination of heads-up baserunning, timely hits and Lady Apache miscues led to Gonzales’ demise.

H. Houseton and Amaya opened the scoring in the inning by stealing home on the same play. A single by Natalee Mendez, and an error, led to Mary Kate Garcia and Greenlee Houseton coming around to score to make the score 8-1. Two RBI singles, by Morin and Sanchez, followed by three straight walks, an RBI single by Garcia and a walk to G. Houseton pushed the lead up to 14-1. Mendez capped the scoring with a bases-clearing double.

The Lady Apaches were faced with two choices – battle back or go home early. They chose to battle back, scoring four runs in the top of the third to prevent the contest ending due to the mercy rule. Four straight hit plated three runs, with Kelly Breitschopf, Sarah Padilla and Josslynn Estrada driving in the runs. Estrada would later steal home to cut the lead to 17-5.

Nixon-Smiley again threatened to end the contest early. They could only score one run in the bottom of the third, as a baserunning error led to a double play that cost the Lady Mustangs a chance to score more.

Gonzales chipped away at the lead again, scoring three more runs to cut the lead down to 18-8. The big blow in the inning was a two-run single by Peyton Springfield.

Nixon-Smiley would put the game away with three more runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Lady Apaches attempted to mount a rally to keep the game going in the top of the fifth, but a double play doomed Gonzales’ chances and the game was called due to the mercy rule.

For the Lady Apaches, Breitschopf, Rodriguez, Villanueva and Cantu had two hits apiece to spearhead an 11-hit attack. Padilla, Estrada and Springfield collected the other Gonzales hits. Dakota Schmidt started in the circle and took the loss. Cantu and Springfield also saw time in the circle.

The Lady Mustangs were led at the plate by Davis, who had four hits and drove in four runs. Mendez also had a big night with three hits and four RBI, while Madisen Yanes drove in four with two hits. Morin and Garcia had the other Lady Mustang hits. Amaya went the distance in the circle to earn the win.