After a 10-4 district 4-4A campaign and a fourth-place playoff seed, the Pampa Lady Harvesters would shake off a game one loss to #1 seed Monahans and come back to win games two and game three to advance to the Area Round against Clint this coming weekend. Monahans, the #1 seed out of district 3-4A, came in with a perfect 10-0 district record. The matchup was a repeat of last year’s Regional Quarterfinal game that Monahans won in two close games 2-1 and 4-3.
This bi-district series against Monahans was set for two games Friday night, starting at 6:00 PM in Lockney, TX followed by the “if” game on Saturday morning at 10:00 AM.
In game one, Pampa got off to a great start in the bottom of the first when Carsyn Hunt led off with a double. McKinley Daniels would lay down a sacrifice bunt that moved Hunt to third base. Brianna Cloud lined a 1-2 pitch, deep over the left field fence for a 2-0 lead. Kynleigh Kirby would then hit a 1-1 pitch over the center field fence and Pampa would take a 3-0 lead in to the second inning.
In the bottom of the third, and the score 3-1, Pampa would add two more runs. Regan Dyer walked with one out and Briley Daniels singled to left field. With two outs and Dyer and third and Daniels at second, McKinley Daniels struck out, but Dyer scored when the ball got away from the catcher. McKinley would be safe at first and Briley Daniels would come around to score on an obstruction call on the Monahans third baseman. At the end of two, Pampa was in control 5-1.
In the third Monahan would add two runs. In the top of the fourth, momentum would shift to the Lady Lobos, as they would score four runs to take a 7-5 lead and the Monahans would score five more runs to take a commanding 12-5 lead.
Pampa would add a single run in the bottom of the sixth, when Maecie Hawthorne hit a solo run home to center field to make the score 12-6. That was it for the scoring and Monahans would take game one by a final score of 12-6.
Game two would follow immediately after game one. Facing elimination, Pampa would score first. In the top of the second, Maecie Hawthorne led off with a single, and Karina Gonzalez followed with an infield single. Hawthorne would eventually steal third base and would score on a passed ball. However, Monahans would add four runs in the bottom of the second to take a 4-1 lead after two innings. The score would remain 4-1 until the top of the fifth inning, when the momentum would shift one final time towards the Lady Harvesters, setting up the inning of all innings.
Reagan Dyer drew a lead off walk and Briley Daniels laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Dyer to third base. With one out, Carsyn Hunt hit a ground ball to short, and instead of getting the out at first base, the Monahans shortstop attempted to throw out Dyer at home. However, Dyer would beat the throw. McKinley Daniels then reached on bunt single putting runners at first and second. Brianna Cloud would then reach on an error by the third baseman. With the score now 4-2, Kirby would hit a single to left field that scored Hunt from third base and the bases still loaded, with the score now 4-3
With two outs, and Pampa down one run, Maecie Hawthorne stepped to the plate with a chance to do some damage. On an 0-2 count, Hawthorne lined a home run well over the left field fence for a grand slam, giving Pampa a 7-4. As the ball sailed over the fence into the darkness, it seemed as if the ball never landed. It was Hawthorne’s second grand slam on the year.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Lady Lobos would add a run to make it 7-5 ballgame.
In the top of the sixth, Pampa would add an insurance run. With one out Carsyn Hunt, lined a 1-2 pitch off the left field wall for a double and would take third on a throwing error by the Monahans left fielder. With two outs, Hunt would score on a wild pitch, giving Pampa an 8-5 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Monahans would make things very interesting and would not go down without a fight. They would add a single run and would leave the bases loaded as Kynleigh Kirby would strike out Gallardo to end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, and facing the top of the order, Kirby would retire the side in order and Pampa would force a game three with an 8-6 win.
Game three would be played at 10:00 AM on Saturday morning and this one was all Pampa from the start. In the bottom of the first, Hunt led off with a single, and Daniels followed with a bunt single, putting runners at second and third and no outs. Hunt would advance to third, and Daniels to second on a passed ball, and then Hunt would narrowly score the games first run on a wild pitch.
In the second, Pampa would add another run when Maecie Hawthorne led off with a single, reached second on a passed ball. Hawthorne would eventually steal third base. Reagan Dyer would be hit by a pitch. Briley Daniels would score Hawthorne from third base a ground out to first base.
Pampa would take control of the game and the series in the third inning. McKinley Daniels led off with a single, Cloud followed with a single and with one out, Hallie Hawthorne would line a double down the right field line scoring Daniels and Cloud. Hawthorne would advance to third on an error by the Lobo’s right fielder. Maecie Hawthorne would then deliver a sacrifice fly, scoring her sister from third base. With two outs, Gonzalez walked, and Reagan Dyer reached on error, putting runners at second and third. Briley Daniels then delivered a 2 RBI single, scoring Gonzalea and Dyer. At the end of four innings, Pampa had the lead 7-0.
In the bottom of the sixth, McKinley Daniels led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on an error. Kirby would then deliver a sac fly, scoring McKinley from third base. With two outs, Hallie Hawthorne hit a long home run well over the left field fence giving Pampa a 9-0 lead.
Monahans would go quietly the rest of the way, and Pampa would pull out a hard-fought victory over a very talented Monahans team.
Head Coach, Dottie Hawthorne said, “The ladies showed a lot of heart this weekend and this championship truly is a total team effort. The dugout was loud and the energy level was high every inning and it was just an incredible series. Monahans knocked us out last year, and it was great to be on the other side of that this year. We are looking forward to playing Clint in the Area round.”
In the series, Kynleigh Kirby pitched all 21 innings for Pampa over the weekend. With the win, Pampa will now face off against the Clint Lions in the Area Round. The series will be a best of three series, with game one scheduled for Friday at 6:00 PM, game 2 will be 11:00 AM on Saturday and the ”if” game to immediately follow. All games will be played in Andrews, TX. All games will be broadcast on KGRO AM 1230 and on YouTube on Harvester Sports Network.
The winner of this series will advance to the Regional Quarterfinals against the winner of Canyon and El Paso Austin. In other district 4-4A action, Dumas swept Andrews, Randall swept Midland Greenwood and Canyon swept Pecos. Randall will face off against EL Paso Riverside and Dumas will play San Elizario.
