College softball: Midland College slugs its way past Lady Wranglers

MIDLAND Odessa College softball coach Joel Prickett knew that the Lady Wranglers were going to have a tough time Friday when they faced a tough Midland College team in a crucial WJCAC doubleheader at the Freddie Ezell Softball Complex.

Not even Prickett could have imagined how tough it would be.

The Lady Chaparrals were retired in order just one time in the two games combined and routed Odessa College, 7-0 in Game 1 and 9-1 in five innings in the second contest, to sweep the day's contest.

The teams will meet again at 1 p.m. Sunday at Odessa College for another doubleheader.

"I thought we did a great job at the top of the lineup," Midland College coach Tommy Ramos said. "We've been working on our batting order throughout the season and we've just recently settled on a lineup.

"And I thought we got two very well-pitched games from Kristen Marris and AJ Woodward, especially considering that this was AJ's first start coming off an injury. But softball is a funny game, so we are going to have to be ready on Sunday."

 The top four hitters in the Lady Chaps lineup - Kristen Marris, Amber Kamaka, Charleen Romero and Elsa Apo - combined to go 17 for 28 with 11 runs scored, one double, two triples and three home runs, with nine RBIs.

Romero was the big stick on the day, going 4 for 7 with two runs scored, five RBIs, a triple and two home runs, including a two-run blast in the second game that caromed off the top of the light tower in left field, 75 feet off the ground.

It wasn't as if the Lady Wranglers (26-20 overall, 7-7 in the WJCAC) didn't have their chances in either game.

In the opener, Odessa College had a runner thrown out at the plate and then, in the third inning, loaded the bases with one out but couldn't get the base hit it needed to break onto the scoreboard.

During the second game, the Lady Wranglers mounted a two-out rally in the second inning on to have Dominique Salazar thrown out at the plate from left field, on a play that had Prickett arguing with the home plate umpire about his running being obstructed coming down the third base line.

"Would it have changed things? I don't know," Prickett said. "Midland College is a very good team and they did a good job of getting the base hits with people on base and we didn't and that was the difference.

"I bet eight of their runs came with two outs and then they had, what, three home runs and a couple of triples? We need to do a better job on Sunday."