H.S. Softball:  Monahans Works OT to Edge Levelland
    By Lee Scheide, Staff Writer ~~ Odessa American, May 13, 2007

MIDLAND Monahans High softball coach David Parker said the feeling came to him during the “fourth or fifth inning” of the Class 3A regional quarterfinal game against Levelland.

“That’s when I knew that our defense wasn’t going to allow them to score,” Parker said. “However, their pitcher was throwing so well that I didn’t know when we would be able to score, either.”

How about the 11th inning?

For the second week in a row, Monahans went into extra innings to eliminate a challenger, defeating Levelland 2-0 at Freddie Ezell Softball Complex.

Monahans (27-10) swept the series on the strength of Friday’s 3-0 victory at the same complex. The Lady Loboes advance to face Burkburnett in a Class 3A regional semifinal series at Abilene Christian University, with the first game scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday.

The loss overshadowed the dominant pitching performance of Levelland’s Kat Johnson, who struck out 17 and did not allow a hit until the ninth inning. She had a perfect game until giving up a leadoff walk in the sixth inning.

“She had our number,” Parker said. “She was mixing up pitches and hitting the corners and did a great job. But we were able to manufacture a couple of runs and that was enough.”

Bailey Marcum led off the top of the 11th with an infield single and then moved to second on a stolen base. She raced to third when Kaitlin Mitchell struck out but reached first safely when the pitch bounced in the dirt.

Mitchell was helped by the fact that Marcum was racing to third and caught the eye of Levelland catcher Tiffany Rice and forced her to think about trying to throw out Marcum.

When Kellie Almanza hit the ball to second, Marcum, off at the first sound of the ball hitting aluminum, raced home standing up for the eventual winning run.

“We knew that we had to do something,” Marcum said. “It was exciting to be able to get the hit to start the inning. That got my adrenaline going. This is a great win for the team, and everyone played well.”