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The Victoria College. Full-time salaried position with benefits available...
DISTRICT "Champions for Community Wellness" has the following positions...
So when the Lady Flyers failed to cross the plate in the first inning when three straight players reached base on Gomez, Lauger figured his team might be in for a long day.
Gomez overcame St. Joseph’s first-inning threat and went on to strike out nine Lady Flyers in tossing a five-hit shutout and leading the Lady Mustangs to a 4-0 victory in their TAPPS Class 5A state semifinal contest at the Waco ISD complex.
“We hit (Gomez) pretty good, we just couldn’t put any hits together,” Lauger said after seeing the Lady Flyers finish the season with a 21-13 record. “If we had one weakness this season, it was putting hits together. We worked on it all year long, but sometimes it still reared its ugly head.”
Midland Christian (34-6) advanced to play defending champion Fort Bend Baptist in today’s 10 a.m. championship game at Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton. Fort Bend Baptist blanked Tomball Concordia Lutheran 2-0 in Friday’s other semifinal.
Gabby Hernandez broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run homer off St. Joseph’s Marina Vasquez.
“She got the green light on a 3-1 pitch,” Lauger said of Hernandez’s towering shot that easily cleared the left-center field fence. “She’s going to play college ball. You can’t make those types of mistakes against players like her.”
The Lady Mustangs scored solo runs in fifth and sixth off Vasquez (21-13), who struck out five batters over the first two innings, but only two over the last four.
St. Joseph’s Jessica Montez drew a walk off Gomez with one out in the first. Gomez hit Lauren Vansickle with as pitch before Vasquez lined a single to right field. Montez tried to score on the hit, but was thrown out at the plate by Meagan Ulmer.
The Lady Flyers managed to put only four runners on base over the last six innings as Gomez avenged last year’s 5-2 semifinal loss to St. Joseph.
“Our incentive for this game wasn’t who beat us last year but that we lost,” Midland Christian coach Byron Myers said. “We didn’t talk about Victoria, Victoria, Victoria all week. We just came in here with better focus.”
The loss marked the second straight year the Lady Flyers went home from the tournament without a state title.
“If we get that run in the first inning, maybe we put some pressure on them and it could be a different game,” Lauger said. “But I’m proud of the girls. After losing six starters, nobody thought we’d be here.”
SJ 000 000 0 – 0
MC 000 211 x – 4
Marina Vasquez and Lauren Vansickle. Erica Gomez and Leigh Ann Staggs. W: Gomez (18-2). L: Vasquez (21-13). Highlights: (SJ) Vasquez 2-for-3, struck out seven. (MC) Gabby Hernandez 1-for-3, 2-run HR, 3 RBIs; Gomez five-hit shutout, struck out nine. Records: St. Joseph 21-13, Midland Christian 34-6. Note: Midland Christian advances to today’s 10 a.m. state final against Fort Bend Baptist at Marty Hardin-Baylor in Belton.