The Tioga Lady Bulldogs softball team had a matchup for the ages with the Wolfe City Lady Wolves in the opening round of the playoffs, with the Lady Bulldogs taking the best-of-three series two games to none April 25.
Both games of the series were hotly contested and went down to the wire, with the Lady Bulldogs finding a way to pull out back-to-back wins, winning the first game 8-6 and the second 9-7.
“Overall, we were mentally tough,” Tioga head softball coach Hallie Martin said. “We got [ourselves] out of some really tough situations, and we put [Wolfe City] in some tough situations. They were a great team, but we were the stronger team mentally, which really is how we took the win.”
The Lady Wolves struck first after their shortstop Lyric Sandlin opened the first inning with an inside the park home, putting Wolfe City on top 1-0.
The Lady Bulldogs responded with a three-run burst in the bottom of the first, sparked by left fielder Kennedy Slay driving in a run with a ground ball single to center.
Slay later crossed home plate on a ground ball single hit by center fielder Kyndall Whitley, followed by Whitley stealing her way around the base path and making her way home, giving Tioga its first lead, 3-1, at the end of the first inning.
Wolfe City added its second run in the next inning after pitcher Hylee Crow- ell got home after a wild pitch got away from Tioga’s catcher, cutting the Lady Bulldogs’ lead to 1.
The Lady Wolves tied the game at 3 in the top of the third inning on a sacrifi ce ground out hit by second baseman Kyleigh Walker.
The two teams traded outs and the lead in the innings that followed, with Tioga retaking the lead 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth only for Wolfe City to reclaim it, 6-4, with a three-run homer to center from Sandlin.
Tioga was able to come from behind in the sixth inning, moving back into the lead, 7-6, with another threerun burst behind a triple from catcher Kaylee Evans and a ground ball single by right fielder Addy Snuggs.
The Lady Bulldogs would add one more run, taking Game 1 with the final score of 8-6.
Game 2 was just as heated as the first, with the Lady Bulldogs jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning only to find themselves down 6-4 in the bottom of the fourth.
The two squads were neck and neck in the ensuing innings, capped by a double play at home and third, with the score being all knotted up at 7 at the end of regulation.
“[If] that play doesn't get made, then I don't know what this game looks like,” she said. “… That's where we've grown and developed, and that's what has made us so successful: having that nextplay mentality. Instead of wondering, ‘What do I do?’ in a situation, now we know, and I think that was a perfect situation. We got that first out, but it wasn't done yet. We can turn two. That was key for us.”
Lady Bulldogs’ shortstop Kenzee Powers broke the tie with a line drive triple to center that gave Slay the room she needed to get home, giving Tioga the lead 8-7.
“I knew we were down; it was Kennedy, then me, so we had to do something,” Powers said. “[Coach] Martin told me as soon as I walked up to the plate, ‘You got it. It’s your turn. Make a move; you got it.’ I just saw the perfect moment and got the hit.”
Powers later crossed home herself for the final run of the series after a ground ball single by third baseman Aly Salinas, giving Tioga the win 9-6.
Powers added how special it felt to make a clutch hit for her team when it was needed the most.
“It was one of the best experiences I could ever imagine,” she said. “I was beyond ecstatic after I made that hit. I knew I helped my team and that I changed the whole game for everyone.”
Abbie Benke, one of two seniors on the team, steadied the game multiple times for the Lady Bulldogs from the pitching circle, collecting six strikeouts over the two games.
“Now that I'm an upperclassman, I know that I need to step up and do that for my younger teammates because they haven't been in these situations,” she said. “I know if they are watching me in the middle of the circle stepping up and being confident in myself and what I can do, I know it'll rub off on them.”
The Lady Bulldogs were scheduled to meet the Archer City Lady Cats in the area round of the postseason in a best-of-three series, with a double-header at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday hosted at Bowie High School. The results were not available by press time.
Martin Edwards/The Post-Signal
