Lady Wolves take Prague Tourney title

Jeff Harrison
The Edmond Sun

August 31, 2008 12:31 am

— It wasn’t the way the Edmond Santa Fe softball squad hoped to finish the Prague Tournament, but they’ll take it.
The Lady Wolves pulled out two wins on Saturday and were set to take on Collinsville in the championship game, but then the rains came. And for the third year in a row the tournament was cut short, but not before the Lady Wolves were crowned with the title.
Santa Fe edged out Collinsville in a tiebreaker that used runs allowed, runs scored and head to head matchups.
“This weekend I thought we played much better and hopefully we’re just climbing a hill,” Santa Fe coach Rhonda Lawson said. “Overall I’m just really pleased, we had a busy week, a lot of tired girls, but we did well and I’m pleased with the progress we’re seeing.”
Santa Fe kicked off Saturday’s action with a 3-2 victory over Stroud.
The Lady Wolves took an early lead with a three-run third inning. A single by Jackie Wiist and bunts by Sierra Bronkey and Amanda Cain loaded the bases for Evan Gray. The senior answered with a two-run triple, giving the Lady Wolves a 2-0 lead. Whitley Davis then brought Gray home with an RBI single, pushing the lead to three runs.
After a couple of quiet innings, Stroud answered in the fifth inning. The Tigers got on the board with an RBI single, and scored again on an errant throw, making it a one-run game.
The Lady Wolves got out of the fifth inning without any more damage due to a controversial third out. With two outs, a third strike bounced off the Santa Fe catcher’s glove and Bronkey ran to home to cover, but her path was cutoff by a Stroud hitter. The umpire ruled batter interference and the inning ended.
“We couldn’t have anything plain Jane, it had to have it end like that,” Lawson said. “We were glad to come out with win, we had the one good inning and seemed to coast, and we need to keep producing, keep hitting and not be satisfied.”
Gray earned the win after allowing just five hits, and striking out eight. Bronkey got the final two outs to close out the game.
The Lady Wolves followed up the win with a 2-0 victory over the Choctaw JV squad.
Karly Nevez and Hayden James each drove in a run in the first inning to give Santa Fe a 2-0 lead.
Bronkey held off the Yellowjackets with a solid performance in the circle. The junior threw six innings, allowing just two hits, and striking out five.

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