Lady Apaches eliminated from playoff contention

YOAKUM — There were high expectations coming into the softball season for the Gonzales Lady Apaches. One year after making it into the playoffs, the team was ready to take on a seemingly open District 26-4A.

Unfortunately, the door has officially closed on a back-to-back postseason berth as the Lady Apaches were eliminated from playoff contention with a 12-4 loss on Friday to the Yoakum Lady Bulldogs. The loss drops Gonzales to 3-7 and with two games left, they’d be unable to catch the Cuero Lady Gobblers (5-4) and Yoakum (5-4) who are tied at fourth and still have a game to play against each other.

“This game was crucial,” Gonzales head coach Sam White said after the game. “All we can do is play spoiler and try to beat Navarro on Friday at home. We had high expectations of winning district and to miss the playoffs is disappointing. We’ll look at the personnel and see what we need to build on and go from there.”

After a 1-1 first inning the game quickly turned downhill as the Lady ‘Dogs were able to add four runs in the second, three of which came after two outs were on the board.

“Just lack of focus,” White described.

Yoakum would score a total of six two-out runs in the game.

On the field, White has had to switch around personnel due to injuries the team has sustained.

“We’re just playing with a lot of injuries. It’s just been a lot of adversity,” White explained. “[I’ve had] to tweak the lineup with Morgan [Mason] out, Skylea [Tatsch] still nursing that hamstring. I don’t make excuses, but we really had to win this game.”

The Lady Apaches finished the night with three errors.

“The story of this game was we just didn’t execute on defense,” White said. “We made a lot of mistakes. You got to throw and you got to catch, bottom line.”

At the plate, White highlighted Margaret Gonzales as one player who had some success as she went 2-for-4.

“She had a pretty good night,” White noted. “Karina [Vara also] had an RBI, Skylea [Tatsch] had two RBIs.”

But those few late runs weren’t enough for an Apaches team that was down big.

At the mound, senior pitcher Tori Lester went four innings before being pulled at the bottom of the fifth for Jaycie Burton. Burton finished the game, pitching in two innings, striking out three and giving up on one hit and one walk. The three runs in the sixth were “unearned” as White described, due to errors on the field.

“Jaycie has had a really good last couple of games,” White said. “I think it’s really shown me that we can build on her pitching for next year. She’s really stepped up and shown me this year that she can be our ace next year. So I’m really proud of her.”

Looking towards the future is something White said he’s going to have to do with these final two games. Since the Lady Apaches will end their season next week, White will use these last two games to evaluate the roster and give the younger athletes a chance with the additional paying time.

“I’m looking for something to build on for next year” White said. “I’ve got 10 returning players for next year and I’m going to build on that. I’m going to use the next two games to look at that, examine what we need to do and go from there. [Going to] let some of the young ones play. They’ve been very patient all year long, knowing their role as base runners. They’ve done a great job, I’m proud of them, the young ones. It’s just a matter of now we’re going to give the young ones an opportunity to play. I need to see them in action so I can make some decisions for next year. Unfortunately, that’s where we are. It’s disappointing.”

“We’ll recognize Tori [Lester] and ‘Mags’ [Kristeny Magallanes] and Gretchen [Singleton] and Margaret [Gonzales] next week but at the end of the day I got to also use this opportunity to see what I can do for the future.”

The Lady Apaches have a bye tonight and will play again on Friday at home against the Navarro Lady Panthers where Gonzales will showcase their four seniors for their final home game.