L.Mules vs. Littlefield & Shallowater (4-5&9-2016)

L.Mules vs. Littlefield & Shallowater (4-5&9-2016)

The Lady Mules broke even this past week with a huge win over the Littlefield Lady Cats Tuesday and a loss to the Shallowater Fillies on Saturday. The Lady Mules batted around in both the first and fourth innings to defeat Littlefield 17-1.

The Lady Mules had intended to travel to Shallowater Saturday morning to play the Fillies but a rain storm changed all of that. The decision to move was made at about nine pm to move the game to Muleshoe and play at one pm. 

Three errors cost the Lady Mules three runs in the first inning, three runs in the fourth inning and four runs in the sixth inning. The Lady Mules lost the game 12-2. 

The Lady cats went in order in the top of the first inning. The first batter flew out to Mireya Ruvalcaba. The second grounded out to Ruvalcaba and the third batter tapped a ground ball back to Crystal Flores in the pitching circle. 

Sasha Esparza reached first base on a fielder’s choice that left the Lady Mules with two outs. Reagan Reynolds was hit by a pitch and Felicity Sena walked to load the bases. Brittney Mendoza was hit by a pitch to force home Esparza and leave the bases loaded. 

Denisse Ramirez walked to force Reynolds home. Brooklyn Beall walked to force home Sena and Noa Rojas also walked to force Sena across the plate. Flores came to the plate for the second time of the inning and drove the ball over the head of the centerfielder for a triple that scored Ramirez, Bell and Rojas. The Lady Mules never looked back after scoring seven runs in the first inning. 

The game ended when Littlefield could not score seven runs in the top of the fifth inning. 

The first two Filly walked batters in the top of the first inning. A ground ball to Mendoza at third base forced out the lead runner as second base. A pop fly to Ruvalcaba at shortstop resulted in the second out of the inning and held the runners at first and second. 

A base hit to left field would have loaded the bases but a throwing error on returning the ball to the infield emptied the bases and allowed the Fillies to score three unearned runs. 

The first two Lady Mules to the plate were called out on strikes and the third went down swinging. The Fillies led 3-0 after one inning. 

A pop fly to second base was handled by Brianna Barron for the first out of the second inning. The next batter was hit by a pitch and a bunt single put Fillies on first and second base. A fly ball to leftfield was easily handled by Beall for the second out. Barron scooped up a ground ball and flipped it to Ruvalcaba covering second base for the forced third out. 

The first two Lady Mules went down swinging before Mendoza took the count full, fouled off a pitch before drawing a walk. The fourth Lady Mule went down swinging stranding Mendoza on second base. The score remained 3-0 with the Fillies leading. 

Flores fielded a tap back to circle in the third inning for the first out. A double to left center put a Filly on second base. A single to shallow center field would have put Shallowater runners at first and third but when the ball was errantly returned to the infield both runners were allowed to score. The Fillies had increased their margin to 5-0. 

The Lady Mules again went in order on three strike outs. 

The first Filly of the fourth inning flew out to Ruvalcaba at shortstop and the second popped out to Esparza at first base. An error allowed a Filly to reach first base and the next blasted the ball over the leftfield fence to add three runs to the Shallowater lead. 

Shallowater did not score in the top of the fifth inning. 

Mendoza walked to leadoff the bottom of the fifth inning. Ramirez dropped a single just over the head of the first baseman and a walk by Beall loaded the bases. Rojas was hit by a pitch to force home Mendoza for the Lady Mules first run. 

Ruvalcaba sent a fly ball to deep centerfield that was caught. Ramirez tagged up and scored on the sacrifice fly. The Lady Mules trailed 8-2 after five innings. 

The error bug again bit the Lady Mules and allowed four runs to score to put the Lady Mules behind 12-2. 

Mendoza hit a two-out single to centerfield but a strikeout ended the game before she could score. 

The Lady Mules hosted the Dimmitt Bobbies Tuesday to start the second round of district. The Lady Mules owned a 2-1 record after the first round of district play. The Lady Mules will travel to Littlefield on Saturday and play at noon.