Lady Loboes Win Opener 7-3 at Alpine 
    By Randy Hogan, Staff Writer ~ The Monahans News, February 17, 2006

The Monahans Lady Loboes Softball  team opened the season with a resounding 7-3 victory over Alpine Tuesday night, But it did not come without a little drama.

Monahans (1-0) took an early 2-0 lead, but Alpine (0-1) answered back by shutting out the green in the top half of the second inning and putting up three runs of their own to take the lead.

MHS fought back in the third inning to tie game at 3-3, then took the lead for good scoring two runs in top half of the fifth inning." We hit the ball really well and played good defense," MHS coach David Parker said.

The Lady Loboes hammered Alpine with 14 hits on the night.

Heather Schuler (1-0) led the ladies from the circle, striking out six  and only giving up one walk to the pitching victory.

"Heather's pitching was really pretty good all night," parker said.

The Lady Bucks had seven hits on the night.

Monahans added the final two points of the game in the seventh inning, highlighted by a pinch hit inside the park home run by Brianna Chaney.

Chaney, recovering from a preseason injury, replaced Kaitlin Mitchell in the top of the seventh inning.  She wasted little time making the most of the opportunity, smashing a line drive down the right field line. The ball went into the right field corner of the fence.

Cheney displayed her speed to compliment her power drive at bat, running the bases to record her first home run of the season .

"I was really pleased to see her come off the bench and perform well when we needed her " Parker said.

Parker, in his first year as head coach at Monahans, was encouraged by the improvement of his team and excited about the future.

"It was a good first win for all of us, and its definitely something we can build on." Parker said.

The Lady Loboes are back on the diamond Friday and Saturday at the Andrews Tournament.

The tournament will allow the ladies to face some teams, including host Andrews, who advanced to the Class 4-A State tournament last season.

District rival Pecos is also entered in the the weekend tournament. Former MHS alumni Tammy Walls led her Lady Eagles to 16-0 victory over Crane in their season opener this week.

Keyed by Katie Lacombe, Senior