Lady Lions pour on runs late

Corinne Henderson takes a swing.

By Brian Besch
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The Livingston offense exploded for 14 runs over the final two innings of Tuesday afternoon’s game, run ruling Splendora 16-6 in the fifth.

Down 3-0 from an error and RBI-double, Corinne Henderson led Livingston off in the second inning with a walk. Breonna Niederhofer singled and advanced to second on the throw home. Bailey Goodson grounded into a sacrifice that plated the Lady Lions’ first run. Baylee Yantes did the same to cut the deficit to 3-2 after two innings.

Two errors put Lady Cats on the corners in a fourth inning that Livingston should have been out of scoreless. A fielder’s choice brought home Splendora’s fourth run of the game.

“It was a weird day for us at first,” Livingston coach Heather Mosser said of the early start time due to weather. “I have been stressing all day about the weather and I think it just took us a second to get started.

Freshman catcher Goodson started the bottom of the fourth with a base hit. A wild pitch, then pop fly off the bat of Yantes got her to third base with just one out. Knighton made the score 4-3 with an RBI-single. Brianna Nelson reached on an error to extend the inning. Shelby Dickerson slapped a single into the gap, scoring both runs, but two throwing errors allowed Dickerson to circle the bases and give the Lady Lions a 6-4 lead.

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Splendora scored a run and had the bases loaded with no one out when Knighton came on to relieve pitcher Allison Lytle in the fifth. A strikeout and force out at home made it look like she’d escape without further damage, but a full-count walk tied the game at six.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Livingston offense would decide the outcome. Henderson singled and swiped a bag. Yantes later doubled in two runs to put Livingston back up at 8-6. Knighton reached on error, scoring another. Nelson tripled to bring in Knighton and Lytle also reached on error, giving the Lady Lions an 11-6 advantage. Two more Splendora errors created two more runs, Goodson drove in two with a base hit, and Livingston completed the game with another crossing home for the run rule.

“Once we get rolling at the plate, it is kind of hard to stop us at times. I’m confident that my team is going to do that,” Mosser said of scoring 14 runs over the fourth and fifth innings. “Even though we started off a little slow and sluggish, our offense is going to step up at any moment.”

The team is now sitting in second place at 8-2 in district. The only losses have been to the state’s top-ranked team in Liberty.

“I think that is our 15th win (overall) on the season, so we are having a great season right now,” the coach said. “These kids have bought in. They have worked and have taken what I have given them and put it to work. This is my third year here, so we should see some improvement. They are really hungry. We have been beaten a lot in the past couple of years. They are hungry for this, and I don’t even have to say much to them about that. They want it, and when you get a full team in that mindset, they will go get it. I have some senior leadership and I have some freshmen who have stepped up, so we have a great mix.”

The Lady Lions will try to continue the positive momentum Friday when they take on Hargrave in Huffman.