At various points in the 2022 season, the Odessa High softball team has shown an ability to get back into games after falling behind early.
The Lady Bronchos did that against Abilene High Thursday at the Ratliff Softball Complex, but couldn’t hold on as the Lady Eagles pulled away with a big sixth inning to win 9-5.
It was the second time the sides have faced off in District 2-6A play this season, with Abilene High making up for an 8-6 loss to the Lady Bronchos on March 22.
“I thought we stayed fighting all seven innings,” Odessa High coach Rachel Pena said. “Just a lack of execution there at the end, otherwise I thought we did a good job.”
Odessa High had some work to do after the Lady Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, getting a spark from a Meghan Gattis solo home run in her first at-bat.
Both sides kept each other off the scoreboard in the second with solid defense, heating up offensively in the third.
With Jazzy Cantu waiting on second base, Bre Barajas sent a deep homer over the center field fence to give Abilene High some space in the top of the inning.
An RBI single from Jailyn Shaw gave the Lady Eagles a four-run (5-1) advantage.
The Lady Bronchos got a quick response from the top half of its lineup, seeing Gattis and Shelby Navarrete get on base with line drive singles.
Nivea Saenz made it a close affair with a home run to cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the third.
After quick outs in the following two innings, Odessa High tied the game up when Diveli Cherry reached home plate on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth.
A trio of Lady Bronchos’ runners left on the base in the inning ultimately played an important role, as Abilene High scored four runs in the sixth to pull away before shutting down any other options from Odessa High.
“I never feel like we’re out of it, never,” Pena said. “Even at the beginning of the seventh, I thought we were going to get it done.”
The win helped Abilene High (15-8 overall, 6-4 district) jump into third place in the district standings over Odessa High (11-9-1, 6-5) with two games left in its regular season.
“Going into this I told them, we win tonight, we’re secure in the playoffs,” Abilene High coach Jenna Bane said. “It’s a little deep breath that we’re secure in our playoffs since we dug ourselves a hole in the first round.”
Odessa High has one more regular season game left against Wolfforth Frenship at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Wolfforth before an open date.
>> Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
