Walk-off hit in 7th ends historic ‘21 season for the Lady Mustangs

STANTON — After scoring three runs in the seventh inning of Game 3 to tie Monahans at 6-6, it seemed Sweetwater just might duplicate what it had done to Andrews a week earlier and pull off another come-frombehind win in its latest exciting chapter to a historic 2021 softball season.

Monahans wouldn’t let it happen.

With Sweetwater one out from sending the contest to extra innings, the Lady Loboes got a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh Friday for a 7-6 regional quarterfinal victory, ending the Lady Mustangs’ year in heartbreaking fashion.

It was the second win on Friday for Monahans, which tied up the best-of-3 playoff with an 18-7 win earlier in the day after Sweetwater got a 10-8 win in Thursday’s opener.

Sweetwater (21-11) trailed 6-3 entering the seventh in Game 3 but tied it thanks to five hits, including an RBI single by Jenika Fuentes, plus a steal of home by Jazzy Villa and sacrifice fly by Halle Martinez.

Sweetwater pitcher Mikayla Ashley, who threw the first 3 1/3 innings and returned in the fifth, got the second out of the seventh by inducing a fly ball to deep centerfield with two runners on base prior to Monahans’ game-winning hit.

Coach Loni Mendez was proud of the way her team battled Friday. “That’s really all I can say. We played with a lot of heart,” she said.

“It was a great year. We just love to have fun and to play softball and we did a lot of great things this year.”

Sweetwater became the first Lady Mustang team to win district, bi-district and area championships with the district and area titles the first in school history. A tough non-district schedule prepared the team for an undefeated 10-0 run to the District 3-4A title. The Lady Mustangs followed it in bidistrict with a 14-0 victory over Pampa in a one-game playoff, then eliminated Andrews in a three-game area round series, allowing them to advance further than any Sweetwater team had since softball became a UIL sport here in 1996.

In Game 3 Friday, Sweetwater took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and led 3-0 after another run in the third until Monahans scored six unanswered runs in the fourth and fifth.

Kendall Daniel, who hit two home runs in Game 3, blasted one over the fence after Jazzy Villa singled to give Sweetwater a 2-0 advantage and hit a solo shot in the third to make it 3-0.

Villa had three hits while Daniel, Ashley, Martinez and Bethanee Rodriguez had two apiece. But Sweetwater stranded 10 runners to just three for Monahans.

GAME 1 Sweetwater 10, Monahans 8

GAME 2 Monahans 18, Sweetwater 7

Sweetwater built an 8-1 lead after three innings of Game 1 on Thursday, but Monahans tied it up at 8-8 with a seven-run fifth. However Fuentes, who took over in the pitching circle for starter Ellianna Perez in the fifth, hurled two scoreless innings as the Lady Mustangs regained the lead with single runs in the sixth and seventh.

Sweetwater then survived a major threat as Monahans loaded the bases in its final at bat, and had the winning run at first base, until Fuentes got the last out on a 4-3 putout from second baseman Rodriguez to Perez at first base.

Sweetwater regained the lead in the sixth when Villa doubled, moved to third on Kendall Daniel’s single and scored on Perez’s sacrifice fly. In the seventh, Kendall’s sister Kyla Daniel singled with two outs and scored on a double by Victoria Martinez to make it 10-8.

Sweetwater scored four first-inning runs, three in the second and another run in the third. The four runs in the first came on just one hit, and the first two runs in the second came when Rodriguez bunted to third base with Kyla Daniel at first and they both came around to score on a throwing error by Monahans’ catcher. Rodriguez also hit an RBI double to make it 8-1 in the third.

In Game 2 earlier Friday, the Lady Mustangs had an uphill battle after Monahans took a 5-0 lead by scoring five runs in the third.

Sweetwater cut the Lady Loboes’ lead to 5-3, 7-4 and 10-7 but Monahans had an answer each time, capped by an eight-run seventh that put the game away.

Laryssa Garcia began the first comeback when she bunted in front of the plate and she and Shelby Dent came around to score on a throwing error to first base. Rodriguez then hit an inside the park homer to cut the lead to 5-3. Victoria Neri’s solo homer in the fifth cut Monahans’ lead to 7-4, and the Lady Mustangs scored three times in the sixth to get within 10-7. It began with a single by Villa and Kendall Daniel’s two-run blast. Fuentes then reached on an error and scored on Kyla Daniel’s triple.