“We’ve got to do a better job of not giving them extra bases,” Bryan head coach Enrique Luna said. “It was just silly, silly stuff — stuff that we worked on all year long, and it was kind of the same deal that happened to us against [Cypress] Woods that we made one mistake, and it just kind of snowballed.”
Bryan committed six errors, including three in Klein Collins’ seven-run third inning. After hitting leadoff hitter Mia Cantu with a pitch, Lady Vikings starting pitcher Jessica Adams (20-8) got two quick outs before giving up a two-run home run to cleanup hitter Katy Schaefer. Nadia Almanza singled up the middle on the next pitch and advanced on an error before scoring on a base hit by Madison Dillon. Two more runs scored on a base hit by Caley McGuff, and two runs scored on an error before Adams induced a fly ball to left to end the frame.
“When you’re a pitcher, you take pride in it, and when your defense is letting you down, you want to take it upon your own hands,” Luna said. “I think [Adams] was just trying to do too much, and it shouldn’t be that way. That’s not her job to do that. It’s up to our defense to help her out and do what we need to do to make it a lot easier for her, and we should have.”
Adams allowed eight runs (six earned) on nine hits with a walk over three innings. Relief pitcher Analisa Rodarte pitched the bottom of the fourth, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits with a strikeout.
Collins (30-2) scored in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Almanza and Dillon after Schaefer reached on an error. Dillon scored on another error, and courtesy runner Kylee Jacks scored on an RBI single by Mia Cantu. Almanza and McGuff went 3 for 3, while Cantu, Schaefer, Dillon and Williams each went 2 for 3. Schaefer drove in the first run of the game on a single in the first.
The Lady Vikings threatened to score in the top of the fifth after Brianna Garcia singled and Kylie Hernandez reached on a fielder’s choice groundball, but Hernandez was thrown out at home on a double by Adams.
Hernandez, Adams and Jacque Adams all doubled off Collins starting pitcher Kenedy Hines, who allowed four hits and struck out eight in the shutout win.
“[Hernandez] had great at-bats, and I sent her [in the fifth] and she got thrown out at the plate, but I wanted to take a chance and try to get that zero off the scoreboard,” Luna said. “And [Jessica Adams], other than that first at-bat, she made solid contact. Jacque did. We had some good, positive at-bats once we settled down and laid off her pitch that was up, and so we’ve just got to have more confidence at the plate.”
NOTES — Game 2 is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Crosby High School. If Bryan wins, Game 3 will be at 6 p.m. Friday. ... Klein Collins leads the all-time series with Bryan 7-2.
Klein Collins 12, Bryan 0 (5 innings)
Bryan 000 00 — 0 4 6
Klein Collins 107 4X — 12 14 1
Jessica Adams, Analisa Rodarte and Brenda Sanchez; Kenedy Hines and Araya Williams.
W — Hines. L — Adams (20-8).
Leading hitters: BRYAN (25-11) — Jessica Adams 1-3 2B; Jacque Adams 1-2 2B; Kylie Hernandez 1-2 2B. COLLINS (30-2) — Mia Cantu 2-3, RBI, run; Katy Schaefe... Click here to read full article
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