“The girls played well and it was nice to get back in front of a home crowd, even if it wasn’t our field” Temple College coach Larry Hennig said.
The tournament features 16 teams from four different states and has become one of the biggest preseason tournaments in the country with four of this year’s participants ranked in the NJCAA Top 30 poll.
In the opening game, Temple was in a tight battle with Connors State (Okla.) before busting out to an 11-4 win, thanks in large part to a home run by Yesenia Torres and a solid pitching performance by Caitlin Austin (8-3).
Bruceville-Eddy product Haley Friudenberg (2-2) picked up the win in the second game as Temple pounded Angelina 10-2 and Kayla Shepherd (7-3) finished off the day with a 4-0 shut out over Paris.
“We felt Paris was going to be the best team we faced,” Hennig said of Friday’s competition.
Temple, Navarro and Galveston were the only three teams to win three games on the day. Temple will face Galveston when the tournament resumes at 10 a.m. today.
The Lady Leopards will conclude play with a 12:30 p.m. game against Northeast Texas. In all 16 games will be played today at Wilson and Lions Park and a total of 39 games will be played in the tournament.
