A tie game in the fifth kept hope alive for Santa Gertrudis Academy, but one big at-bat sealed a Class 3A UIL Softball State Championship fo Coahoma, as the Lady Lions lost to the Bulldogettes, 4-2.
"We knew that we wanted to achieve something big this year. We wanted to have a comeback season and show everybody what Academy softball was," Julia Guerrero, Santa Gertrudis Academy senior, said. "Even though the cards didn't fall in our favor this game I am proud of every single one of the girls, and I know next is going to be another good year for them."
Sophomore national softball prospect Hannah Wells made the difference in the contest, thanks to a dagger 2-run home run in the seventh inning. This coming after SGA gave up a double on her first at bat and then intentionally walking her twice.
"Based on the situation with runners on and no outs we did not want to put ourselves in a bigger hole, but now everybody knows why we walked her intentionally the first couple of times," Thomas De Los Santos, Santa Gertrudis Academy head coach, said. "She's the real deal."
The UIL 3A state MVP also pitched a complete game, where she walked four batters, but only had two earned runs and four strikeouts.
In the top of the fourth, the Bulldogettes' third baseman Karleigh Burt hit a hard ground ball in the infield that allowed Shae Lang to score from second base to put them up 1-0.
The Lady Lions answered in the bottom of the fifth, Taylor Reyes hit a blooper to center field that scored pinch runner Naghtalie Mireles from third to tie things up.
The Bulldogettes came right back in the following stanza as Baylor Wright hit a ball down the left field line to score another run for Coahoma. The following half inning, the Lady Lions were able to put two runners on the bags, but were unable to capitalize.
In their final at-bats of the day, the Lady Lions did manage to put a runner across the dish to draw closer to the Bulldogettes, but it was not enough.
"It was nice to see everyone. It's like all of Kingsville, we're a small town, but it's nice to see all of our friends and family, administrators come out and support us," said Precious Silguero, Santa Gertrudis Academy senior designated hitter. "It definitely gave us that extra drive that we needed."
Coahoma earned their first UIL State Championship since 1989, one year removed from being the runner-up in the state title game in 2022.
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