LOST OPPORTUNITY

By TJ MAXWELL

Cove Leader-Press

KILLEEN – The Copperas Cove Lady Dawgs were looking for their fifth-consecutive district win Tuesday night when they traveled to Killeen High School and were well on the way to that win as they the Lady Roos scoreless through five innings of action in a 1-0 contest.

One swing of the bat by Killeen senior standout Tanjala Smith for a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning, however, sparked an eight-run rally and another ended the rally with an in-the-park home run for an 8-1 lead on the way to a 8-2 Lady Roos’ victory.

Defensive errors by the Lady Dawgs compounded the damage that they were unable to overcome in their final at bat.

“We didn’t do what we had to do when we needed to do it – plain and simple,” Copperas Cove head coach Bryan Waller said in frustration immediately after the loss. “The girls didn’t step up when they needed to step up and everybody was not on the same page tonight.”

A leadoff home run by Smith off the middle of the scoreboard knotted the game at 1-1 before a walk by Kiara Dominguez and single by Shaylynn Murk put runners on for the Hailey Pitts RBI single to break the tie.

Cove added to the damage with a throwing error by Montanez that allowed Murk and Pitts to score and Avalyn James to reach base and give the Lady Roos more base runners. A ground out to Montanez by Allison Fox then scored James from third for a 5-1 Killeen lead. A single by pinch-hitter Kelsey White and a walk by pinch-hitter Oslyn Rodriguez put more runners on for Smith’s second at-bat of the inning.

A single to centerfield by Smith turned into an in-the-park homerun after a fielding error in centerfield allowed the ball to roll to the fence clearing the bases.

“It takes everybody working together at the same time,” said Waller. “We can’t have one person hitting the ball and one person playing defense. It has to be a true team effort and that’s what we’re lacking right now.”

The Lady Dawgs began strong, however, only surrendering one hit in 18 batters faced. The Lady Roos managed to get a few more runners on the base paths on a hit by pitch, walk, error and fielder’s choice but they were all left stranded as senior pitcher Elana Montanez struck out seven, forced five ground outs and a fly out through the first five innings.

Cove also threatened early from the plate. A single up the middle by Kristen Wasiak in the first inning and a single to left field by Jackie Clay in the top of the seconddidn’t amount to much but a one-out double by Riley Radigan from the nine-hole kicked off a Cove threat in the third.

A single by Montanez from the leadoff spot pushed Radigan to third before a bunt Wasiak juiced the bases. Radigan then raced home on a high fly ball to left field by Riley Collier that was dropped for an E7 in the scorebook to give Cove a 1-0 advantage. The Cove threat was then ended on an 8-6 double play when a high fly ball of the bat of sophomore Jayda Carter was caught by Killeen centerfielder Destiny Smith and rifled to second to pick off Wasiak on a base-running error.

The Lady Dawgs threatened again in the fifth inning when Radigan connected on another hard-hit shot for a leadoff single to right field and was batted into scoring position by a Wasiak bunt and a sacrifice fly by Collier. A groundout to Smith a shortstop by Carter ended another Cove scoring opportunity.

Cove added one final run in the top of the seventh inning but fell short of the seven needed to push the game to extra innings.

Radigan again reached base on another E7 on a high fly ball to left with one out. A walk by pinch-hitter Maria Hanna put runners on for Wasiak who connected with an RBI single to centerfield to score Radigan.

Waller just wants to see his team get back on the same page heading into the back half of district play.

“Are they going to do things our way or their way – that’s what we’ve been trying to get through to them all yearlong,” he said. “If they do what we ask them to do and do it the right way, good things are going to happen.”

The Lady Dawgs (12-7-1, 4-2 in District 8-6A) finished the first round of district play in third place behind Belton (17-4, 6-0 in 8-6A) and Midway (14-7, 5-1) with San Angelo Central (3-3), Ellison (2-4), Killeen (2-4) and Ellison (2-4) breathing down their necks.

The Lady Dawgs face the district-leading Lady Tigers in Belton tonight before returning home to host Midway next Friday

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