Lady Mules vs. River Road SB (3-22-2016)

Lady Mules vs. River Road SB (3-22-2016)

The Lady Mules fell behind early to the River Road Lady Cats Tuesday and could never recover. The Lady Mules went down 8-4 to River Road.

Crystal Flores stepped under a pop fly to the pitcher’s circle for the first out of the game. Two base hits, three walks and an error allowed four Lady Cat runs to cross the plate in the top half of the first inning. Mireya Ruvalcaba faded back to snag a fly ball to finally end the top half of the first inning.

An error by the shortstop allowed Flores to reach first and lead off the bottom half of the first inning. Ruvalcaba was hit by a pitch to put runner on first and second. Both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch. A second wild pitch allowed Flores to score and Ruvalcaba to go to third base. Reagan Reynolds lofted a base hit to short left field to score Ruvalcaba. The Lady Mules trailed 4-2 after one complete inning.

A Lady Mule error allowed the first batter to reach first base and the runner stole second base. A fly ball to second was caught by Brianna Barron. A base hit scored the runner before a fly to center was caught by Reynolds. A ground ball to second was scooped up by Barron and she made the short toss to Ruvalcaba covering second for the third out. The Lady Mules were down 5-2 after one an a half innings.

AB Mendoza walked to lead of the bottom of the second inning and she went to third on a wild pitch. The third baseman committed an error on a ground ball by Denisse Ramirez and Mendoza scored to cut the Lady Cat lead to 5-3 after two innings.

Ruvalcaba backed into left field for a fly ball for the first out of the top of the third inning. A fly to right field was caught by Ramirez for the second out. Barron scooped up a ground ball to second and threw a strike to Sasha Esparza at first for the third out.

Reynolds singled to left field to leadoff the bottom of the third inning. She reached third but could not score. The Lady Mules continued to trail 5-3.

River Road led off the fourth inning with a triple to leftfield. An error and three base hits scored three Lady Cats. Brittney Mendoza speared a line drive and threw to second to double off a base runner for a double play. Ruvalcaba scooped up a ground ball and tossed to Barron a second for a force out to end the inning. The Lady Cats had built an 8-3 lead over the Lady Mules.

Flores drew a one-out walk and she went to second on a wild pitch. An error by the shortstop allowed Barron to reach first. Ruvalcaba sent a ground ball back through the pitching circle to score Flores. That was the final run to cross the plate.

The Lady Mules will open district action in Dimmitt April 2 at noon.