Raelynn Johnson, Autree Kelm, and Riley Luton each drove in two runs, and Miley Pokorny scattered seven hits over seven innings and struck out 10, to lead the Thrall Tigerettes (5-5-2 overall, 1-0 District 27-2A) to an 8-4 district-opening win over Rosebud-Lott Tuesday night.
Thrall posted a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Mikayala Velesquez was hit by a pitch to opening the inning and moved to second on Neveah Irvin’s ground out. Luton drew a walk and Johnson followed with a double to left, scoring Velesquez. Luton came home on Pokorny’s grounder to first to give the Tigerettes a 2-0 lead.
It appeared the Tigerettes were going to blow the game open in the third. They opened the inning with singles by Johnson, Ashlyn Jarosek, and Gracie Fitzgerald, and a walk to Pokorny, but Johnson was thrown out at home for the second out of the inning. Kelm followed with a runscoring single to center to make the score, and Jarosek stole home to give Thrall a 4-0 lead after three.
The score went to 5-0 in the fourth. Velesquez led off the inning with an infield single, then scored on Johnson’s second double of the night.
Rosebud-Lott finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. The Lady Cougars picked up a pair of hits off Pokorny to score a run, before Pokorny was able to shut them down trailing 5-1.
The Lady Cougars cut deeper into the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Three singles and a Tigerette error allowed three runs to score, cutting the Thrall lead to 5-4.
Thrall did not panic, however.
In the sixth Velesquez doubled to lead off the inning and with one out, Luton took a first pitch over the centerfield fence for a two-run homerun and a 7-4 Thrall lead.
The Tigerettes added an insurance run in the seventh off a pair of singles by Jarosek and Preslie Juranek, and a double by Kelm.
Johnson led the Tigerettes at the plate with three hits. Fitzgerald, Juranek, Velesquez, and Jarosek each had two hits. Pokorny + circle to run her season record to 3-2 with a 1.718 earned run average.
Thrall was playing in the Taylor tournament beginning Thursday. The tournament will conclude on Saturday. The Tigerettes will resume district play on Tuesday when they host the Milano Lady Eagles.
