Thrall’s Tigerettes raced to out to a big lead early and then held on for a 17-13 win over the Milano Lady Eagles Tuesday night in a game delayed twice due to the severe weather in the area.
From the outset, it appeared the Tigerettes would easily get the win. Thrall put nine runs on the board in the first inning, including Raelynn Johnson’s grand slam homerun. The Tigerettes took advantage of four Milano errors in the first that helped them to a 9-1 advantage.
Milano trimmed the lead to 9-3 in the top half of the third, but the Tigerettes used the long-ball again in their half of the inning to extend their lead to 12-3. Aubrie Henderson hit the first of her two homeruns on the night and Dezi hit her fourth homerun in the last four games to account for three Thrall runs.
The Lady Eagles began to claw their way back in the fourth scoring three runs and adding four more in the top of the fifth that cut Thrall’s lead to 12-10. Thrall finally answered in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of runs. Henderson hit her second homerun, and sixth on the season, and Addison Leschber’s double accounting for the second run.
Milano continued to fight in the sixth, once again cutting into the Thrall lead with a pair of runs that pulled the Lady Eagles within two, 14-12. But, as before, the Tigerettes were able to regain the momentum in the bottom half of the inning. Thrall picked up a pair of runs when Karli Quintanilla and Henderson were both able to tag up and score on Leschber fly ball to left. The final run of the inning came on Ashlyn Jarosek’s double that scored Lopez and the Tigerettes led 17-12.
Milano added one more run in the top of the seventh, but was unable to get any closer.
Henderson led Thrall at the plate, going three for four and scored five runs. Leschber, Lopez, and Jarosek each had two hits for the Tigerettes, and Leschber had five runs batted in for the night, pushing her season total to a team-high 47. Henderson also picked up the win in the circle to run her season record to 10-6.
The Tigerettes have two games remaining on their schedule. They were scheduled to travel to Bremond on Thursday and will close out the regular season on Tuesday when they host Holland. Currently, the Tigerettes sit alone in second place, behind district champion Thorndale.
