Ladies Come up Big Against Levelland
   By Jessica Ray, Staff Writer ~~ The Monahans News, March 6, 2007

The Lady Lobo softball team competed in a three-day tournament in Synder March 1-3.  The games were timed at one hour and 25 minutes.  Games were declared over when time expired, regardless of the inning.

The first match-up for Monahans was on Thursday against Alpine.  The Lady Loboes were able to take out the Lady Bucks 9-1, Alpine's only run came in the first inning.  In the first and third innings, Monahans had two runs each, and five more in the fourth inning.

Later Thursday, Monahans played Midland Christian.  With 15 minutes left of play left, Monahans was in the lead 5-3.  Two Lady Lobo errors allowed Midland Christian to tie the game at 5.  A score after a base hit gave Midland Christian a 6-5 win just before time expired.

"Lana Santiago hit a homerun over the centerfield fence, and Kristi Wilson had an in-the-park homerun," said Coach David Parker of Friday's game against Tahoka.  The game resulted in a 12-0 win for Monahans.

Saturday, Monahans lost to the Midland High JV after beating them 7-0 in Midland Tuesday.  The game was intense and went three innings with no score for either team.  In the fourth inning, Midland has one run, which was the only score before time expired.

The big game for Monahans at the tournament was against Levelland.

"Levelland is one of our biggest competitors in this region," said Coach Parker.  "We will probably meet them in the regional quarterfinal round."

The highlight of the Levelland game was an over-the-fence homerun from Dina Ortiz.  The homer was good for two runs, which helped tally up to a 10-3 win against the opposing Lobos.

"Dina Ortiz set the tone early in that game by hitting a two-run homerun over the left field fence on the first pitch she saw.  As soon as it left the bat, I knew it was gone," said Coach Parker.

Ortiz also hit a double against Levelland, as did Wilson and Santiago.  Kellie Almanza and Bertha Felan came up with a triple each.