Lehman’s KeKe Holmes lines a single to center field during the Lady Lobos’ 15-10 win at Hays Friday night. It marked the first time Lehman has ever beaten Hays in softball during the six-year history of the series. Lehman avenged a loss last season in which the Lady Lobos lost an 8-0 lead to the Lady Rebels in the late innings at Lobo Field. (Photo by Dominic Martinez)
by JASON GORDON
Lehman High School continued a week of breaking down longtime barriers Friday night.
This time it was the Lady Lobo softball team that traveled across the highway and took it to Hays in a 15-10 win at Lady Rebel Field.
It came one year after Lehman squandered an 8-0 lead against Hays in the late innings at Lady Lobo Field, and three days after the Lehman baseball team beat Hays for the first time in school history.
It also marked the first win for the Lehman softball team over the Lady Rebs in the six-year history of the series.
Lehman players and coaches didn’t seem a bit surprised after the game, however.
“We felt like we were the better team,” Lady Lobo head coach Nicole Herrera said. “It was definitely a well-deserved win and it feels great.”
Lehman shortstop Cydney Ervin agreed the Lady Lobos were ready for this moment.
“It’s a phenomenal feeling and it’s about time,” Ervin said. “It’s nice to do it here at Hays, especially when we had more fans here than they did. It’s going to feel even better when we beat them again next time at our place.”
Lehman, which improved to 1-1 in District 27-4A, set the tone early, scoring five runs in the top of the first inning, as Ervin, Jules Hernandez, Alicia Garcia, KeKe Holmes and Emma Martinez, who finished the game 5-for-5 at the plate, all came around to score. Niño’s two-RBI double was the key hit in the frame to help stake Lehman to a 5-0 advantage before Hays even had the chance to bat.
Emily Opheim’s two-RBI single that scored McKinna Kinsey and Maddy Shannon brought Hays to within 5-2 in the bottom of the first, but Lehman was soon at it again.
With the help of three Hays errors, the Lady Lobos erupted for six runs in the top of the third as Ervin, Alexis Trotter, Hernandez, Martinez, Niño and Jessica Gonzalez all scored to make it 11-3.
“I was having flashbacks for a minute because the eight-run margin was exactly what we had last year when we lost,” Ervin said. “We wanted to extend the lead as much as we could.”
That’s exactly what the Lady Lobos did.
After Ervin’s towering two-RBI double to center field made the score 13-3 in the top of the fourth inning, it looked like the Lobos were going to run-rule Hays.
The Lady Rebels managed to escape the 10-run mercy rule by scoring four runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth keyed by Kinsey’s two-RBI single that plated Clarissa Gonzalez and Hannah Ramsey. Ashley Miller added an RBI-double and Kelsea Sadler followed with an RBI-single, and it appeared the Lady Rebs were on the comeback trail after cutting the gap to 13-7.
But this Lehman team wouldn’t fold. Despite giving up a one-out triple to Braden Pinckard and an RBI-double to Kinsey in the bottom of the seventh, Lehman starting pitcher Monique Johnson recorded two strikeouts to bring the Lady Lobos to within one out of making history.
That out came when Gonzalez flipped a slow-rolling grounder from her second base position to Holmes at first base, who secured it in her glove, and Lehman fans erupted in chants of “Lobos!”
“When they started cutting into the lead, I knew we just had to stay strong,” Johnson said. “I said to myself that I’m not going to let this happen again.”
Herrera said she didn’t think there was going to be a case of déjà vu with Lehman blowing another eight-run lead against Hays.
“The difference was we kept fighting all the way through this time,” Herrera said. “Last year, we fell apart and I could see it happening in our players’ faces and in their demeanor. Tonight, we battled through every out we needed to get.”
Ramsey wasn’t going to deny losing to Lehman for the first time was tough.
“It stings,” Ramsey said. “But it just means we have to work harder and be ready the next time.”
Hays head coach Joanna Farr said she was disappointed with the loss to Lehman. The Lady Rebs also fell to 0-2 in tough District 27-4A, which also includes perennial softball powers Smithson Valley, Canyon and Lockhart.
“We need to get the ship righted,” Farr said. “Lehman is always ready to play Hays. This is their biggest game of the year. We have to put things together pretty quick. We have the talent, and when we do start playing like we’re capable of I think we can accomplish some amazing things.”
