Sports
Softball team to host tournament
Wednesday, 13 March 2013 by Tony Adams
The Lady Tigers’ Alex Wilson celebrates with teammates as she crosses home plate during an inter-squad scrimmage.Eleven games in nine days will make even the most seasoned of teams a bit tired.
But the Belton Lady Tigers softball team keep on pushing through, finishing off the road tournament schedule, finishing 2-3 in the Southlake Carroll Tournament last weekend.
On Thursday, the Lady Tigers were shut out 6-0 by Flower Mound. Belton was only able to muster four hits and struck out 11 times. Defensively, the Lady Tigers were shaky, committing five errors. Alex Wilson, Sidney Holman and Meredith Langford all saw circle time in the contest.
The game came about on a moment's notice, as Southlake's fields were in poor shape from rain and wind. The weather canceled the games against McKinney and Irving Nimitz. Flower Mound stepped in to host the game and dominated from start to finish.
With the tourney shifting back to Southlake Carroll, Belton won the Friday opener 6-1 over Carrollton Creekview. Holman tossed one-hit masterpiece for the win, striking out five and walking one. Holman and Langford each went 2-2 with an RBI.
The second game of the day saw the Lady Tigers drop to 1-2 on the tournament with a 7-3 loss to host school Southlake Carroll. Belton committed five errors, leading to six unearned runs. Skylar Stewart had two hits, including a homer. Kirsten Whiteside and Shelby Hitt also had two hits each for the Lady Tigers.
Saturday's games brought about a pair of ITB (international tie breaker) games against Colleyville Heritage and Lewisville Hebron. The ITB rule is in extra innings, a runner is placed on second base to start the inning.
Colleyville jumped on Belton 5-0 through the first two innings, all unearned due to five errors. The Lady Tigers blasted back with six runs in the fourth inning, charged up by an Alyson Bishoff homer and hits from up and down the Belton lineup. Heritage came back with a run to tie in the sixth to push the game into extra innings past the time limit, invoking the ITB rule. Belton, unable to push across a run in the top of the seventh, was unable to keep Heritage from scoring as they downed the Lady Tigers 7-6.
Holman took the loss, although pitching a great game. She allowed seven runs (only one earned) on eight hits, struck out seven and walked five. Tiffany Beaver had three hits and Holman two hits for the Lady Tigers.
The last game came against Lewisville Hebron. Belton's bats came alive again, as they peppered Hebron pitching for 11 hits. The Lady Tigers went up 3-0 before Hebron plated a pair of runs in the third and one in the fifth to tie the game at 3-3. The game went to extra innings to once again invoke the ITB rule. Belton scored once in the eighth, but allowed Hebron to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth on a play that brought about two Lady Tiger errors. Belton would score four times in the top of the ninth inning and Hebron could not match the count, falling to Belton 8-5
Bishoff had a mammoth game for the Lady Tigers, going 4-for-4 with two homers. Stewart collected three more hits and Whiteside two for Belton. Wilson collected the win in the circle for the Lady Tigers, going nine innings, allowing five runs, four hits and striking out eight batters.
Overall, the Lady Tigers played well. They were only outscored 26-23 in five games, many of the runs unearned due to 17 errors.
Stewart was the leading hitter of the tournament for the Lady Tigers, going 8-for-15 with a homer. Bishoff went 5-for-9, with three homers on Saturday alone. Bishoff has 14 RBI and Whiteside has seven RBI to lead Belton so far on the year.
Next up for the Lady Tigers: The Belton Tournament.
Split between Belton High School and UMHB's Dee Dillon Field, the Lady Tigers will play all tournament games at BHS. Belton plays Celina Thursday afternoon at 5, West in a double header at 9 and 11 on Friday morning, and wrapping up with Elgin at 11 Saturday morning and Lampasas at 3 on Saturday afternoon.
"It will be a challenging tournament for sure," said Blackburn. "With district starting Tuesday night (at Harker Heights), we will see how they play. It should be a great tournament.
Especially with the improved seating and good food, Belton puts on a great tournament.
