Leander stroked a dozen hits and feasted on Belton fielding miscues to come away with a 9-4 victory on a damp, chilly Tuesday night at Lady Tiger Field.
It’s the kind of game that had the Lady Tigers scratching their heads.
“We’re just surprised,” Belton coach Matt Blackburn said. “We knew Leander was good, but when you make that many errors. . . . You hate losing, but when you beat yourself there are no answers you can have.”
Belton held the Lady Lions scoreless through three innings, but Leander posted runs in each of the last four frames to keep the Lady Tigers at bay.
“I thought we scored enough runs to win the game,” Blackburn said. “I thought our pitchers pitched good enough to win the game.”
Leander pitcher Alex Crowhurst fired a four-hitter at the Lady Tigers in going the distance. Crowhurst fanned 11 batters, walked four and hit one.
Sophomore Allison Boston pitched three scoreless innings for the Lady Tigers but retired just one batter before giving way to senior Brynne Steger in a difficult four-run fourth.
Belton posted the first two runs of the game in the third. Krystal Faber walked and Amber Peters looped a hit into left-center field to set the plate for Steger, who drilled a two-out bullet over the head of left fielder Tasha Marin for a two-run double to establish the lead.
Leander answered with a four-run fourth with doubles from Alex Robertson and Alyssa Barry. Raven Hawley hit a run-scoring single and Aissa Barerra sent home two with a hit for a 4-2 advantage.
The Lady Lions added to it in the fifth on a run-scoring double by Hawley.
Belton narrowed the gap to 5-4 with a pair of runs in the fifth. Victoria Alcozer led off with a single and eventually scored when Peters reached on an error. With runners at the corners, Brianna Bozon and Peters pulled off a double steal to score Bozon.
A three-run sixth opened the Lady Lions’ lead back up to 8-4. Mercedes Cox led off with a triple down the right-field line. She scored on an RBI fielder’s choice from Marin. Barry later drove in two with a single. The Lady Lions added another run in the seventh with the aid of Lady Tiger defensive trouble.
Belton will be getting plenty of opportunities to shore things up with a three-day tournament in Georgetown. The Lady Tigers will open against Lorena at 10 a.m. Thursday followed by a noon game against Saginaw.
“I thought the final score should have been 4-3,” Blackburn said. “Then again, if there weren’t any errors we wouldn’t have gotten our runs. We’ve just got some girls who are still trying to find their roles.”
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