Mineral Wells Area News

By DAVID MAY | Special to Mineral Wells Area News

Lady Rams even their district record

Mineral Wells built a 6-0 lead and held off a late rally to take a 10-7 win Friday over Brownwood for their first District 6-4A win.

Kynlee Harkins, Scottie Denison and Tatum McMinn collected two runs batted in apiece and Hailey McWhorter scored three times to pace the Lady Rams’ offense.

McWhorter went the distance in the circle for Mineral Wells (13-5, 1-1), allowing three earned runs and seven hits over her six innings of work to notch the win.

It was a wild affair. Both teams committed seven errors. Just five of Mineral Wells’ 10 runs were earned.

The Lady Rams grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Consecutive one-out walks to McWhorter and McMinn but two runners on. Two errors landed McWhorter at third ahead of McMinn’s free pass. Emery Boswell walked with two outs to load the bases. 

Angy Bista’s fly ball resulted in the third error in the inning by the Lady Lions. McWhorter touched home and the bases remained loaded. Bista stole home, scoring just before Boswell was tagged out trying to swipe third to end the frame.

A four-run third inning for Mineral Wells began with a one-out single by Carsyn Presley, followed by an Aubree Yowell single. Both runners took an extra base on the return throw from right field. Harkins smacked an RBI hit scoring Presley. 

The Lady Rams loaded the bases again on a walk to McWhorter. McMinn’s sacrifice fly to center scored Yowell. Harkins and McWhorter each moved up a base. Denison’s single to short scored Harkins for a 5-0 Mineral Wells lead. Boswell drew a two-out walk to again load the bases. Bista walked to score McWhorter.

Brownwood got on the scoreboard with two runs in the top of the fourth on the strength of a walk, three hits and an error to draw within 6-2.

The Lady Rams had an answer, scoring three times in their half of the fourth. It began with two errors on a Presley grounder that left her standing on second. Yowell reached first on a strike-three wild pitch, moving Presley to third with Yowell reaching second. Harkins hit into productive first-out to score Presley. McWhorter’s single sent Yowell home. McWhorter stole second and scored on a Denison double into left field.

Brownwood made it 9-4 with two more runs in the fifth inning. Consecutive doubles to lead off the inning were followed by two balls put in play to account for the runs. McWhorter induced two ground outs to get out of the inning.

The Lady Rams aided and abetted a three-run top of the sixth to help the Lady Lions draw to within 9-7. Mineral Wells committed four errors. A pair of ground outs snuffed the rally.

Mineral Wells put up one more run in the sixth. Harkins doubled and scored on a McMinn double.

Next up for Mineral Wells is a Tuesday district game at Glen Rose (12-7, 1-1). The Lady Tigers are coming off a win over Graham, that followed a Brownwood loss.