Despite ugly loss, Lady Pintos looks forward to rematch with Russellville

Going into Thursday's contest with Hallsville, California already knew they had the No. 5 seed in the Class 2, District 9 Tournament that begins today, but they still had a couple of games to play before this afternoon's rematch with the Lady Indians.

Destiny Cook's day on the mound Thursday was cursed by early defensive errors that forced her to throw more pitches throughout the rest of the game, as California fell to Hallsville 17-2.

"Whenever you give a team multiple outs in an inning instead of just the three, we had several five, six out innings," California head coach Darrell Bolin said. "Any time you do that, you're going to wear your pitcher out. They get tired because they have to throw more pitches. You have to hold the other team down to the three outs per inning, otherwise it's going to be a long night for the pitcher."

In the top of the first inning, the first two Hallsville batters reached base due to fielding errors, then both scored off a couple of passed balls. The third batter in the lineup, Megan Bereswill doubled and scored after a ground out. With two outs, Hanaah Ricketts singled, stole second and reached third on a wild pitch. Ricketts scored the fourth run of the inning after a single by Brooke Alley.

The Lady Indians held the early 4-0 lead after the first half inning.

The Lady Pintos answered in their half of the first, scoring one run while leaving two base runners stranded.

Hannah Hill, Sam Beckham and Destiny Cook walked to lead off the first with the bases loaded. Hill scored on a wild pitch, then the next California batters lined out, struck out and grounded out in the end the scoring threat.

Cook held Hallsville to zero runs in the second inning thanks to an inning-ending double play. Madyson Hale lined out to the shortstop with a runner on second base, who was caught off the base for the third out.

But the Lady Indians scored six runs in the third inning and seven runs in the fourth to build a lead over California. Eight total errors in the two innings helped the cause for Hallsville.

"It's very frustrating," Bolin said. "We had some that could of maybe went either way, but we had a lot of errors that by now should be over with. We're a better team than that."

With the district tournament beginning today, the No. 5 seed Lady Pintos have a rematch with a No. 4 seed Russellville team that beat California in walk off fashion earlier in the season. The winner of the Lady Pintos and the Lady Indians will have a tall task ahead of them, facing off against the No. 1 seed Blair Oaks.

"Going into districts, I think they have a good mindset," Bolin said. "They know we have Russellville and they know we've already played them close once. I think as far as Russellville goes, they've got a good mindset. If they can get past the idea that the next round is going to be Blair Oaks, I think it's a winnable game. That's how we're approaching it."

California and Russellville will play in the Class 2, District 9 Tournament today at 4:30 p.m., and the winner will play Thursday against the Lady Falcons at 4:30 p.m.