4 days, 8 games and 1000 miles later and the Wranglers are off to a nice start to the season.
Game 1 vs Dallas Christian
The Wranglers began the four day stretch at home on Wednesday against Dallas Christian College. Game one would have Caitlyn Rangel throwing 5 innings of 1 hit ball and 10 strikeouts in a 9-0 victory.
Game 2
Maya Shelby and Kayla Camacho would combine for 5 innings, 1 earned run and 7 strikeouts. After two wins, a shower and dinner at the caf, the team was off to Odessa, where they would play the #10 ranked Odessa College Wranglers and Luna Community College.
Game 3 vs Odessa College
A rough first inning put the Cisco College Wranglers in a hole against Odessa, and that would prove to be too much to overcome. Freshman Maddy Martinez would settle in after the first inning and would match last year's leading strikeout pitcher in the nation with 8 strikeouts, but the offense could never get anything rolling. Wranglers would drop the game 8-0.
Game 4 vs Luna CC
Caitlyn Rangel, sophomore pitcher, would come in and throw 4 innings with 7 strikeouts in the victory against Luna College 9-0. Mack McClellan would come in and throw 1 inning, striking out 3 and giving up one hit. Then it was back on the bus and on to El Paso.
Games 5-8 vs El Paso CC
Friday saw the Wranglers in a dogfight with the El Paso CC Tejanas in game 1.
The Wranglers would enter the 6th inning down 3-0 when a Tejanas error and a misplayed drop third strike would open the door for the Wranglers. A double steal by Waller and Hopkins would get the Wranglers on the board. A triple by Bethany Sherwood would drive in Hopkins for the second run, bringing the score to 3-2. The bottom of the 6th would be highlighted by an amazing double play by Alyssa Kelley and Sonnie Andersen, keeping the score at 3-2 going into the 7th.
The Wranglers would take advantage of 2 hit-by-pitches and the eventual game winning single by Kamryn Gomez. Maya Shelby would finish off the 7 inning outing by inducing a fly out to second baseman Lorena Rodriguez. Shelby would go 7 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 runs and striking out 6.
Game 2 on Friday saw the offense wake up. They would score 15 runs on 18 hits, including 8 doubles, a triple and 4 homeruns. Freshman Taylor Springs would come in off the bench and hit two home runs in the 8 run 6th inning. Bailey Buck would go 3 for 4 with 5 RBI and a HR. Freshman Kayla Camacho would make her first start of the season going 4 innings giving up just 4 hits. Addy Rich would throw 2 scoreless innings to hold on for the team shutout. 15-0.
Saturday would be a battle of attrition. Four straight days of games had the Wranglers running on heart and fumes. Game one would be an 8 inning offensive battle. Freshman standout pitcher Maddy Martinez had a little trouble finding her groove on Saturday and would last just 2 innings. McClellan, Rich and Shelby would pick up the slack for Martinez and the Wrangler offense willed the Wranglers to an extra inning win 13-12. Camacho would have another big day, but at the plate in this game going 5 for 5 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI. Buck, Gomez, Kelley, Sherwood and Luna would all have multi-hit games. Rich would pick up the win with Shelby securing the save.
Game 8 in four days would prove to be another battle. A couple walks and 2 errors in the first would put the Wranglers in a hole 4-0. The Wranglers would scratch and claw their way back into the game with 15 hits, 3 doubles, 1 triple and a HR by Sophomore AK Kelley. Sophomore pitcher Rangel would go 4 innings, giving up 3 earned runs and striking out 5. Shelby would continue her hot hand coming in for the final 3 innings giving up just 4 hits and striking out 4 to pick up the win 8-7. Taylor Springs would continue her hot streak going 3 for 4. Kelley would lead the team going 4 for 4 with 4 RBI, a HR and a double. Abilene Wylie standout Bailey Buck and Abilene high standout freshman Leila Musquiz would both go 2 for 4 with a double and a triple respectfully.
Over the four days and 8 games the Wrangler would go 7-1 scoring 68 runs on 100 hits, 28 doubles, 5 triples, 6 home runs and 28 stolen bases. The pitchers would have a combined ERA of 3.50, 58 k's and 3 shutouts.
The Wranglers will be in Brownwood this weekend, Feb. 18-19.