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May 9—Going into Friday's championship round of the NJCAA Southwest District A Tournament, the Odessa College softball team needed two wins against Grayson College to win the title.
The Lady Wranglers completed the first part of that task but couldn't finish off the Vikings.
No. 5 ranked Grayson College (51-6) won the tournament championship after defeating Odessa College 5-3 in Game 2 of Friday's doubleheader at Wrangler Softball Complex.
With the tournament title, the Vikings clinched an automatic berth to the NJCAA Softball World Series in Yuma, Ariz. which will take place from May 19-24.
Odessa College (46-6) must now wait and see if it can get an at-large bid when the NJCAA Softball World Series bracket is released on Monday.
"First of all, my congratulations to Odessa," Grayson College head coach Mike McBrayer said. "That's a great ball club. Top club in the nation. We knew it would be a dog fight and that's exactly what it was. Whether it takes one or two games, we got it done. I fully expect Odessa College to be in Yuma as an at-large bid."
The Lady Wranglers have appeared in four consecutive NJCAA World Series tournaments.
Odessa College won the first game on Friday in a 3-0 contest.
However, Grayson College proved to be too much in Game 2, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning before scoring three runs in the third.
Grayson held off a late Odessa College rally.
"It was a situation where somebody's got to win and somebody's got to lose," Odessa College head coach Doug Eastman said. "These are two great ball clubs. I kept saying that this is one of the toughest regions going in to the tournament were some really good softball out there. We came up a bit short but we managed to get the tying run on first base (in the second game). That's one thing I am proud about this team. They never give up."
It was the Lady Wranglers' second loss to the Vikings in two days as the tournament hosts suffered a 2-1 loss to the Vikings on Thursday.
Trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Lady Wranglers managed weren't done just yet as the hosts scored three runs to make it a two-run deficit.
A run by Taryn Blazevich made it 5-1 and Jaycie Pacheco scored on a single by Shelby Navarrete.
A sacrifice fly by Renske Tellekamp scored Mason Barclay to make it 5-3, giving the hosts some life late in the game.
Odessa College held Grayson College scoreless in the top of the seventh, giving the Lady Wranglers one last chance to make a comeback.
It wouldn't be enough as the Vikings held on for the win.
"We got some timely hits in the second game," McBrayer said. "This West Texas wind is not supposed to blow out of the northeast and it was in our face the entire tournament. If we hit home runs and drive balls deep and if the wind the held up, that first game would've been different."
Despite the loss, Eastman is still confident about his team's chances of getting into the World Series.
"I never say for sure, but if I were a betting man, I'd say we've probably got about an 80 percent chance of getting that at-large bid," Eastman said. "What helped us is beating Temple in the first game (earlier this season) and we also beat McLennan, twice. We also beat another good team in Grayson. That counts for power points. And when they look at that kind of thing, our overall record and us going 24-0 in conference I think will help. I can't see anybody ranked lower than us that will get in before us so it would be shocking if we didn't."
GAME 1
Just like in Thursday's meeting, both teams were held scoreless early in Friday's first game.
That changed when Odessa College broke through with a two-run inning in the third.
Odessa College added another run in the fifth and Grayson College struggled to get much going.
Grayson College was playing as the designated home team.
Odessa College pitcher Haydn Milley took the victory with her complete game performance.
Grayson College pitcher Macey Jones took the loss, going five innings before being pulled.
A sacrifice fly into deep center field by Daeya Moses got her teammate Halle Giaudrone on third with two outs for the Vikings in the bottom of the second.
However, Milley struck out Layla Sons to leave the runner stranded and the game remained scoreless, heading into the third inning.
The Lady Wranglers got Reganied Franka and Blazevich on base in the top of the third.
Odessa College then loaded the bases with one out.
A sacrifice scored Franka and the Lady Wranglers had a 1-0 lead.
Mackenzei Mahagan-Bernal then got on base with a walk and the Lady Wranglers had the bases loaded again.
Shelby Navarrete wouldn't disappoint, scoring Blazevich with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
The Vikings got two singles to get runners on base in the bottom of the third.
However, they left both runners stranded and the Lady Wranglers kept their two-run lead, heading into the fourth inning.
Navarrete got her second RBI of the game with a single into deep left field, scoring Barclay for a 3-0 Odessa College lead in the top of the fifth with two outs.
The Vikings then made a pitching change, bringing out Jones and replacing her with Riley Mays.
The Lady Wranglers held on for the 3-0 victory to force a second game.
Continue reading...
The Lady Wranglers completed the first part of that task but couldn't finish off the Vikings.
No. 5 ranked Grayson College (51-6) won the tournament championship after defeating Odessa College 5-3 in Game 2 of Friday's doubleheader at Wrangler Softball Complex.
With the tournament title, the Vikings clinched an automatic berth to the NJCAA Softball World Series in Yuma, Ariz. which will take place from May 19-24.
Odessa College (46-6) must now wait and see if it can get an at-large bid when the NJCAA Softball World Series bracket is released on Monday.
"First of all, my congratulations to Odessa," Grayson College head coach Mike McBrayer said. "That's a great ball club. Top club in the nation. We knew it would be a dog fight and that's exactly what it was. Whether it takes one or two games, we got it done. I fully expect Odessa College to be in Yuma as an at-large bid."
The Lady Wranglers have appeared in four consecutive NJCAA World Series tournaments.
Odessa College won the first game on Friday in a 3-0 contest.
However, Grayson College proved to be too much in Game 2, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning before scoring three runs in the third.
Grayson held off a late Odessa College rally.
"It was a situation where somebody's got to win and somebody's got to lose," Odessa College head coach Doug Eastman said. "These are two great ball clubs. I kept saying that this is one of the toughest regions going in to the tournament were some really good softball out there. We came up a bit short but we managed to get the tying run on first base (in the second game). That's one thing I am proud about this team. They never give up."
It was the Lady Wranglers' second loss to the Vikings in two days as the tournament hosts suffered a 2-1 loss to the Vikings on Thursday.
Trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Lady Wranglers managed weren't done just yet as the hosts scored three runs to make it a two-run deficit.
A run by Taryn Blazevich made it 5-1 and Jaycie Pacheco scored on a single by Shelby Navarrete.
A sacrifice fly by Renske Tellekamp scored Mason Barclay to make it 5-3, giving the hosts some life late in the game.
Odessa College held Grayson College scoreless in the top of the seventh, giving the Lady Wranglers one last chance to make a comeback.
It wouldn't be enough as the Vikings held on for the win.
"We got some timely hits in the second game," McBrayer said. "This West Texas wind is not supposed to blow out of the northeast and it was in our face the entire tournament. If we hit home runs and drive balls deep and if the wind the held up, that first game would've been different."
Despite the loss, Eastman is still confident about his team's chances of getting into the World Series.
"I never say for sure, but if I were a betting man, I'd say we've probably got about an 80 percent chance of getting that at-large bid," Eastman said. "What helped us is beating Temple in the first game (earlier this season) and we also beat McLennan, twice. We also beat another good team in Grayson. That counts for power points. And when they look at that kind of thing, our overall record and us going 24-0 in conference I think will help. I can't see anybody ranked lower than us that will get in before us so it would be shocking if we didn't."
GAME 1
Just like in Thursday's meeting, both teams were held scoreless early in Friday's first game.
That changed when Odessa College broke through with a two-run inning in the third.
Odessa College added another run in the fifth and Grayson College struggled to get much going.
Grayson College was playing as the designated home team.
Odessa College pitcher Haydn Milley took the victory with her complete game performance.
Grayson College pitcher Macey Jones took the loss, going five innings before being pulled.
A sacrifice fly into deep center field by Daeya Moses got her teammate Halle Giaudrone on third with two outs for the Vikings in the bottom of the second.
However, Milley struck out Layla Sons to leave the runner stranded and the game remained scoreless, heading into the third inning.
The Lady Wranglers got Reganied Franka and Blazevich on base in the top of the third.
Odessa College then loaded the bases with one out.
A sacrifice scored Franka and the Lady Wranglers had a 1-0 lead.
Mackenzei Mahagan-Bernal then got on base with a walk and the Lady Wranglers had the bases loaded again.
Shelby Navarrete wouldn't disappoint, scoring Blazevich with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
The Vikings got two singles to get runners on base in the bottom of the third.
However, they left both runners stranded and the Lady Wranglers kept their two-run lead, heading into the fourth inning.
Navarrete got her second RBI of the game with a single into deep left field, scoring Barclay for a 3-0 Odessa College lead in the top of the fifth with two outs.
The Vikings then made a pitching change, bringing out Jones and replacing her with Riley Mays.
The Lady Wranglers held on for the 3-0 victory to force a second game.
Continue reading...
