It may not have been the prettiest softball game played, but all that matters to the Muldrow Lady Bulldogs was it was a home victory as they got past the Central Tigers 18-10 on Tuesday night in a five-inning game called by the run rule.
The Lady Bulldogs (2-0) trailed twice, the last time at 9-8 in the third inning, but Muldrow regained the lead for good in its half of the frame on a wild pitch, an RBI double by Allison Goodwin and an RBI single by Amaya Duran to put the Lady Bulldogs ahead 11-9 after three innings.
The Lady Tigers (0-1) cut their deficit to 11-10 in the fourth inning on an error, allowing Allie Harris to score, but that was as close as Central got.
A two-run single by Goodwin in the fourth inning put Muldrow ahead 13-10 after four innings.
The Lady Bulldogs put the game into run-rule status with a five-run fifth inning, thanks to an RBI single by Jaydin Dean, an RBI fielder’s choice by Kaira Qualls, a Central error, a wild pitch and an RBI fielder’s choice by Kaydence Young.
The Lady Tigers drew first blood off Young, Muldrow’s starting pitcher, as an RBI fielder’s choice by Keeley Poindexter and a two-run double by Harris put Central ahead 3-0.
The Lady Bulldogs took their first lead of the nights they sent 13 batters to the plate, scoring eight of them. A basesloaded walk to Qualls got Muldrow on the board, which was followed by a tworun single by Danica Tune and a basesloaded walk to Goodwin to put Muldrow ahead 4-3.
After Young was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Amaya Duran’s tworun single made it 7-3, then Dean’s RBI single plated Young for an 8-3 lead for Muldrow after two innings.
Central responded with a six-run third inning. The rally got going thanks to consecutive bases-loaded walks to Alyvia Warner and Cambree Bair to cut Muldrow’s advantage to 8-5 — which chased Young from the pitching circle.
Brianna Taylor got hit by a pitch from Dean, who came to the pitching rubber, with the bases loaded to cut Central’s deficit to 8-6. Then a wild pitch and back-to-back RBI fielder’s choices by Avery Warner and Ayrland Jiles scored three more Central runs to put the Lady Tigers ahead 9-8, setting the stage for Muldrow’s comeback win.
For the game, Tune was 4-for-5 with two runs batted in and three runs scored, Goodwin was 2-for-3 with a double, four RBIs and two runs scored, Amaya Duran was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored and Dean was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored for Muldrow.
Dean (2-0) got the win in relief, going the final 2.2 innings with two strikeouts. Young went the first 2.1 innings with four Ks.
In defeat, Jiles was 1-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored, while Harris hit a two-run double and scored twice for Central.
Jiles (0-1) was the hard-luck loser, going the entire game and striking out four.
