Lady Blues softball finishes runner-up in summer tourney

Lady Blues softball finishes runner-up in summer tourney News Staff Tue, 06/25/2024 - 12:58 pm

• (TC GORDON | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Larissa Warren gets set in the batter’s box to swing at a pitch during one of Graham’s summer league games earlier this season. The Lady Blues hosted a tournament last weekend and finished as runners-up.
• (TC GORDON | THE GRAHAM LEADER) The Lady Blues’ Hudson Wright sprints for second base on a double she hit during one of the team’s summer league games earlier this year. Graham hosted a tournament last weekend and made it to the championship game before falling to Anson.
• (TC GORDON | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Zoey Harrell goes into her windup and prepares to throw a pitch during an exhibition game a few weeks ago. Harrell pitched multiple games for the Lady Blues during a summer tournament they hosted last weekend, in which they got second place.

TC Gordon sports@grahamleader.com

As the summer leagues for multiple sports near their end, the Graham Lady Blues softball team hosted a small tournament over the weekend for nearby schools.

In a field of five teams including Graham, the Lady Blues had strong showings and made it to the championship game Sunday, June 23 before falling to Anson in the final. Overall, the Lady Blues went 2-3 over the course of Saturday and Sunday as they get their work in for next season.

Come next spring, Graham will be tasked with defending its district title as the Lady Blues will search for a third consecutive crown. The team faces a tall task with the graduation of multiple seniors last year and a younger crew coming in this next season.

But while that time is still months away, this team has improved greatly this summer and continues to look better against some difficult competition.

Pool Play

The Lady Blues kicked things off with a match-up against Jacksboro. It was a tough battle that saw Graham jump out to an early lead in the first inning.

Jansyn Louder got on base with a walk and came around to score on a double from Larissa Warren. Zoey Harrell followed that up with a huge triple to right field to bring Warren home. And just a few pitches later, Harrell scored on a passed ball to give Graham a 3-0 lead.

Jacksboro answered with a couple runs in the second inning to make it 3-2, and the Tigerettes broke the game open with a big fourth inning to make it 7-3 as the game ended.

Graham bounced back with a huge win in their second game, this one against the Cisco Lady Loboes.

The Lady Blues gave up an early run in the top of the first inning but responded with three runs of their own in their half of the frame. The players showed patience at the plate as they drew multiple walks which led to runs.

Through the next few innings, the Lady Blues continued to pour in the runs. They scored five more in the second inning before it was ended by the scorekeeper, and two more in the third inning when time expired in the game to give Graham the 10-1 win.

The final match-up of the day for Graham came against Mineral Wells in a game that didn’t affect the rankings. The Lady Rams were unable to return the second day of competition, so this game was a normal exhibition.

It was a difficult game for the Lady Blues as Mineral Wells ended up winning 9-1. Harrell, Kathryn Hughes and Kerstin Shupbach each had one hit in the game, but Graham’s defense committed four errors which led to Lady Rams runs.

Bracket Play

In the first game of bracket play, the Lady Blues got revenge on Jacksboro for the previous day’s loss. Graham took down the Tigerettes 7-5 to advance to the championship game.

Through two innings, Jacksboro held a 2-1 lead thanks primarily to an inside-the-park home run to center field. However, Graham’s big inning came in the third.

The Lady Blues pushed five runs across in the third inning thanks to a big double from Tiffany Cotter, a few Jacksboro pitching miscues and more walks. Graham led 6-2 at that point but allowed three more Tigerette runs in the third inning to close the gap and make it 6-5.

But time was on Graham’s side as they scored another run in their half of the fourth inning, and Harrell shut Jacksboro down in their half of the inning to secure the win.

In the championship match-up, Graham battled Anson in a game that saw the Lady Blues nearly come back from being down 6-0.

Through three innings, the Lady Blues hadn’t gotten anything going offensively while the Tigerettes slowly put up six runs. It wasn’t until the top of the fourth inning that Graham broke through.

Briley Randall reached on an error and two singles from Hadleigh Allen and Alexis Aguirre brought home the team’s first run. Louder later walked to load the bases and Warren brought them all home with a triple to center field.

Unfortunately, the Lady Blues ran out of time in their comeback attempt, and Anson ended up with the championship win 6-4.

The Lady Blues will wrap up their summer league Thursday, June 27 when they take on Jacksboro at Hogan Field in Graham.

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