Lady Mustangs perform well over weekend

By Rick Colegrove

It is tournament time in softball. The early part of the season always is a time for tournaments. It’s a way for the teams to round into shape, and answer questions that a team might have. Well, so far this season, there doesn’t seem to be many question marks for the Lady Mustangs. The Hughes Springs softball team closed out a weekend full of action to put their season mark at 11-2.

Thursday saw the start of the action, and the ladies added two wins, with a blow out of Gilmer and a tight one against the Texas High team from Texarkana. Leading the ladies against Gilmer was Charlie Reeves, Shelbie Fickling, and Peyton Blythe. All three had two hits in the game, with Fickling and Reeves having 2 runs batted in, while Blythe had 3 hits to her name. One of Blythe’s hits was a homerun, and Haylee Wilson, Blythe, Fickling and Reeves, contributed doubles. Abbye McKinney got the win with three innings of work with five strikeouts and yielding only 1 run.

The Thursday nightcap saw Hughes Springs take on a big 5A Classification team in Texas High. The ladies won the game 5-4, with Zoe Lanier pitching a complete game, going six innings and allowing only one earned run. Lanier was helped out by Kensley Echols, who belted a homerun, and Abbye McKinney, who contributed a double. While the Lady Mustangs were limited to only six hits, they made them count, with Sierra Blakenship, Katelyn Roth, Echols and McKinney being the only ladies with hits.

The ladies showed up again in Longview Friday at Lear Park and posted a 1-1 record for the day. A win started the day against Pine Tree. The highlight of the game was a home run by Abbye McKinney, along with stolen bases by Kennedi Northam, Blythe and Reeves.

In the second game on Friday, the ladies had a lead most of the game but were not able to hold on, losing to the Lady Patriots, 4-3. Lanier took to the mound again, and only surrendered four hits on the night, but alas the ladies from Hughes Springs couldn’t find the runs to come out on top.

Saturday was another story for the ladies though, cranking out wins against Tatum and Longview, to close out a competitive and action packed weekend. McKinney and Bailey Tenbrook paced the lady Mustangs with home runs in the Tatum game. McKinney had four RBI’s, while Wilson added four as well. Tenbrook had three RBI’s and Reeves and Northam had two RBI’s each. The ladies blew the game open with 14 runs in the second inning. After holding the Tatum team scoreless in the third inning, the game was called to the run rule. The last game for the weekend was against the lady Lobos from Longview. Hughes Springs followed up the impressive Tatum game with an even more impressive showing against another big 5A team. This time it was 16-0. Leading the way was Emily Meade, Blythe and Haylee Wilson. Meade hit a triple and added three RBI’s, while Wilson had three hits and two RBI’s.

Blythe kept it rolling with a home run, and is batting .559 on the year. McKinney is batting .346 on the year with two homeruns and 15 RBIs, and also scoring 19 runs. Northam is batting .440 with 14 runs scored, while Tenbrook is batting .344 with 2 HR and 11 RBI. Fickling is batting .400 and had seven RBI and six runs scored.

Coach Thompson was positive on the weekend results and stated, the “Ladies performed very well with only one hiccup against Prairiland. They are making strides in the right direction; we just need to be able to continue to put the hammer down when we have a lead. We have great pitching, offense and defense; we just need to be able to put it all together.” The ladies will see their next action in the Spring Hill/Pine Tree tournament, which starts Thursday.