Lady Panthers Take Third Place in State Tournament
By John Earp
The Lady Panthers Softball Team traveled to Albuquerque this week to play in the second round of the state tournament. The Lady Panthers fought hard with an exciting last-minute win over the Raton Lady Tigers on Tuesday.
Panthers Pitcher Johnna Butts started out strong from the mound in the first inning striking out the first Raton batter. Abigail Dardon jumped high to catch a line-drive hit for out number three in the first inning. Kaedyn Lujan was up first for Jal in the bottom of the first inning, but unfortunately struck out. Abigail Dardon struck out next. Johnna Butts hit a single. Sauceda walked next, putting two runners on with two outs for Jal, but unfortunately struck out, ending the first inning. With two outs and runners on first and second in the top of the second inning, Amylah Melancon caught a pop-up hit, retiring the side. Three Lady Panther batters went down swinging in the next half-inning. The game remained scoreless. Kaedyn Lujan snagged what would have been an out-of-the-park home run for out number two in the next inning.
Johnna Butts hit a double with an RBI in the third inning, giving the Lady Panthers the first home run of the game. Raton tied the game up at 1 at the top of the fourth inning. Raton gained another run off an unfortunate error by Melancon, putting the Lady Tigers in the lead. At the halfway mark, the Lady Tigers were in the lead 2-1. Melancon hit a line drive single in the bottom of the fourth inning. Paetyn Lujan then hit a single. Kaedyn Lujan then hit a grounder to first to retire the side with two runners on base.
Karisma Rodriguez stole home from third in the fifth inning to tie the game up at 2. Melancon hit a double next. In the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded with two outs, Johnna Butts came to bat. The Tiger pitcher, Middlebrook, then proceeded to walk Butts, giving Jal a 3-2 lead. Middlebrook then proceeded to walk Sauceda for another home run. Rodriguez then was walked, giving the Lady Panthers a 6-2 lead. The Lady Tigers then had a change of pitchers following Middlebrook’s sixth walk of the inning. Quintana came to the mound for Raton with the bases loaded with Lady Panthers. Mayrin Nieto struck out to end the most productive inning of the game for the Lady Panthers, leaving three runners on base.
The Lady Tigers were not to be counted out though, scoring two runs to bring the score to 6-4 with runners at second and third. The pressure was definitely on for Butts. A line drive hit batted in two more runs for Raton, tying up to the game at 6 with two outs with a runner on third, batting another run, giving the Lady Tigers a one-point lead. Johnna Butts came to bat with Kaedyn Lujan and Amylah Melancon on second and third. The Raton pitcher walked Johnna intentionally, loading the bases. Yanira Sauceda came up to bat, and with the count 2-2, hit the ball over the left fielder’s head for a triple, batting in three runs, ending the game with a win in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Lady Panthers then were up against the top-seeded Loving Falcons, who had handily defeated Jal in every game they had played all season. Unsurprisingly, the Panthers lost to the Falcons 8-1 in that game. Jal then went to round 4 of the consolation bracket against Hozho Academy, which Jal had defeated 8-6 last week in the first round of the state tournament. This time the Hozho Lady Wolves beat the Lady Panthers 14-12 in a slugfest, thus ending the Lady Panthers’ postseason aspirations with a third place finish. Overall, an excellent season for the Lady Panthers, showing they definitely had what it took to compete at the highest level in New Mexico High School Softball.