Coming into his team’s four-game series against Midland College, Odessa College softball coach Jeff Jackson knew things wouldn’t be easy.
The Lady Wranglers found out how difficult facing the Lady Chaps was Saturday at the Wrangler Softball Complex, splitting their Western Junior College Athletic Conference doubleheader, winning the first game 7-5 and falling 7-1 in the second contest.
“We didn’t have a very good approach at the plate,” Jackson said. “It took us way too long to make any kind of adjustment in Game 1 and we didn’t make an adjustment at all in Game 2.
“That simply is unacceptable, it was a tough day for us but it doesn’t matter as long as we have a lot of fight in us and we’re able to make those adjustments.”
Odessa College controlled most of Game 1 with solid defensive play, holding the Lady Chaps to three hits until they got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth.
The Lady Wranglers used their speed on defense to their advantage from the start of the game, converting on their offensive opportunities to jump ahead.
An RBI single from Kawehi Ili helped Odessa College go up 1-0 in the bottom of the first, a lead that lasted until the bottom of the second when Reagan Hillis drove in Brooke Nauman to make it 2-0.
Odessa College scored a run in each of the third and fourth innings, leading comfortably by four runs before Kaitlyn Gonzales reached home plate for Midland College in the top of the sixth.
A 3-run homer from Michaella Baker in the bottom of the inning gave the Lady Wranglers a 7-1 lead, which ended up being enough to clinch the Game 1 victory.
Despite the safe lead, Midland College still managed to make the opening contest interesting by bringing in four runs in the top of the seventh.
Jackson believed the late surge helped the Lady Chaps shift the momentum in their favor going into Game 2.
“Whenever you give good teams any sort of energy, they’re going to be able to build on it,” Jackson said. “I was hoping that there was a couple of times on defense that would give us some momentum because I thought we were phenomenal on defense for the most part.”
Odessa College wasn’t able to make the same defensive stops in the second contest, as Midland College jumped ahead early with a 2-run homer from Tajanae Davis in the top of the first.
Ciera Avila followed that up with a solo shot to left field in the second inning, giving the Lady Chaps an early 3-0 lead.
The Lady Wranglers managed to slow down the scoring, but saw Midland College break the game open with three runs in the top of the fifth.
An RBI single from Lauren Gonzales drove in Ari Ybarra in the bottom of the frame to give Odessa College its first score, but the Lady Chaps strengthened their advantage with a a one-run triple from Aaliyah Hunter in the top of the seventh.
Jackson said his team will move on from the loss and work to quickly eliminate the issues that plagued them later in the doubleheader.
Odessa College (48-4 overall, 22-2 conference) will be the top seed in the NJCAA Region V West Tournament, May 13-15, at Lubbock Christian University’s Maner Park.
“I think everybody’s going to be tough,” Jackson said of the teams he anticipates facing. “Everybody has played us pretty tough, everybody has got some really talented hitters that are tough to get out.
“We’re going to have to be at our best, I know whenever we’re at our best, we’re going to have a really good chance to make a run at the region championship game.”
>> Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
