Permian clinches playoff berth

Filled with emotion as it watched seniors Miranda Martinez and Abigail Pawlik take the field for their final regular-season home game Tuesday night at the Ratliff Softball Complex, the Permian softball team needed a few moments to regain its composure — but only a few . Once the Lady Panthers focused back on the task at hand, everything went just fine. Martinez and freshman Mariah Rey combined on a two-hit shutout and Hannah Banker hit a home run to lead Permian to a 13-0 rout against Amarillo Tascosa in District 2-6A play. The game was called after five innings on the mercy rule. Rylee Day added a triple, with Hunter Harkrider and Aubrea Hall each contributing a double in the victory as the Lady Panthers improved to 15-10-1 overall, 5-4 in district and clinched a playoff berth. “We did get off to a slow start,” said Martinez, a four-year varsity member. “There was still some emotion from before the game and then Tascosa made us get back in the game. “The biggest thing for us was getting the win and getting into the playoffs, which we did.” Brooke Walterscheid led the Lady Rebels (5-25-1, 0-9) with two hits. Walterscheid’s first hit of the night came with two outs in the top of the first, followed by a walk to Addie Burleson. A wild pitch by Martinez moved both runners up 60 feet, but the Permian right-hander got out of the inning by getting Lauren Will to hit a ground ball back to the circle, where Martinez threw her out at first. That was the closest that Tascosa would come to scoring the rest of the game. Though Permian went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first inning, the Lady Panthers had their first four hitters in the second inning reach base, with Harkrider’s two-run double driving in Pawlik and Day after Martinez had already scored on wild pitch. In the third inning, it was Day’s turn with the big hit, a three-run triple off the right-center field fence to plate Brianna Dominguez, Banker and Pawlik. Day then scored on Harkrider’s ground out to third base. Banker’s solo home run highlighted a six-run fourth inning in which the Lady Panthers sent 10 hitters to the plate to break the game open. Rey came on in the fourth inning to pitch for Permian and allowed Walterscheid’s second hit of the night, facing just seven batters in two innings of work, with one strikeout. “They got it together; they knew what we needed to do,” Permian coach Kristin Williams said of the Lady Panthers regrouping in the first inning. “It was nice to get a chance to play everyone and I thought Mariah did a great job coming in for Miranda. She’s been getting better all season and it was good to see her compete.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Permian High School Athletics

PERMIAN CLINCHES PLAYOFF BERTH

LEE SCHEIDE

OA Online | 4/18/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Jacob Ford