Despite taking an early lead, the Permian softball team needed to find some late momentum against Odessa High in District 2-6A play Tuesday.
The Lady Panthers defeated the Lady Bronchos 10-9 in eight innings at the Ratliff Softball Complex.
“They’ve been working so hard, we’ve had two hard-fought games and two hard-fought losses,” Permian coach Angela Arebalos said. “We needed this, the girls came through and they never let up.”
After allowing a base hit in the top of the first inning, Alexis Belen held Odessa High off the scoreboard by striking out three straight batters.
That set the Lady Panthers up to make an early impact in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases before Taylor Ramirez went up to bat.
Ramirez gave Permian its first lead with a grand slam over the center field fence to give the Lady Panthers the early momentum.
The advantage held up until the bottom of the third when Mackenzei Bernal unleashed a deep solo home run before Ramirez and Iliana Garcia got on base.
An RBI double from Makayla Sanchez scored them both to give the Lady Panthers a 7-0 lead.
It was the largest deficit Odessa High faced, as the Lady Bronchos started chipping away at the margin when Diveli Cherry scored in the top of the fourth.
Permian added another run in the bottom of the frame, but Cherry continued to push her team with a three-run homer in the fifth.
The Lady Bronchos flipped the script with two late solo home runs, one from Shelby Navarrete to tie the game at 8-8 and force an extra inning.
Meghan Gattis the hit a solo homer of her own in the top of the eighth before Permian scored twice in the bottom of the eighth for the win.
A sacrifice fly from Bernal scored Bailey House to give Permian the victory.
“It’s all mindset,” Bernal said. “Whenever we came tied, it’s just a 0-0 ball game.”
Odessa High coach Rachel Pena said she knew it would be hard to keep the Lady Panthers from scoring when they applied pressure early in the contest.
She added that she believed her players could pull off the late comeback when they returned to the fundamentals they’re most comfortable with.
“I am proud of my girls for coming back and fighting,” Pena said. “I know what we’re capable of and I knew once we settled down we would be all right, it just wasn’t enough.”
Permian (15-8 overall, 1-2 district) was coming off losses against Abilene High and Wolfforth Frenship, while Odessa High (6-6, 1-2) had most recently defeated San Angelo Central.
The Lady Panthers travel to face Midland High at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Audrey Gill Sports Complex in Midland, while the Lady Bronchos will host Midland Legacy at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Ratliff Softball Complex.
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