Lady Blues split pair of spring break games

Students are on spring break but before they get to fully enjoy it, the Lady Blues softball team played a pair of games earlier this week and came away with a 1-1 split.

Graham defeated Stamford with ease Monday, March 11 and then traveled to Burkburnett where they suffered a close loss Tuesday, March 12. The two games were the Lady Blues’ final non-district contests and provided another opportunity to grow and improve for the team.

Lady Blues v. Stamford, (W) 9-1

It was a battle of the blue when the Lady Blues took on the Stamford Lady Bulldogs in a spring break matchup. Graham was decked out in their blue and black uniform with Stamford sporting their all-blue uniform.

It didn’t take long for the Lady Blues to assert their dominance in this win. Graham was led by pitcher Reese Calhoun, who threw five innings of a perfect game before allowing a hit in the top of the sixth inning which turned into Stamford’s only run.

Calhoun struck out six batters in a row to start the game and 13 of the first 15 she faced before allowing the first of just two hits surrendered in the game. With such a strong presence in the circle, the Lady Blues’ offense only needed a couple runs and they provided more than enough.

“The ball I thought was moving better today than it has all year and if she has control of that and spins the ball well, other teams are going to have a hard time hitting it,” head coach Adam Arrington said. “When they did make contact it wasn’t solid; I think they had one hard hit all day.”

After taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Graham’s offense blew the game open in the third. Calhoun led off the inning with a single followed by a strikeout from Meagan Brooks for the first out. Starting with Emily Lawson, the Lady Blues hit five straight singles to score five runs.

Following another strikeout, the team tacked on another run when Mayci Ryans scored on a dropped third strike and they led 7-0.

“I was a little nervous at the start of the year because that's the fastest pitcher we faced all year,” Arrington said. “She has a little control issues and I told us, ‘Let’s not chase anything when we're ahead early in the count.’ I thought today were our best plate appearances as a whole, as a team, and I thought it was a great tuneup.”

The Lady Blues scored another run in the fourth inning and an additional run in the sixth before Calhoun shut the door on the team’s 15th win of the season.

Lady Blues at Burkburnett, (L) 8-7

In their final matchup of the non-district schedule, the Lady Blues took a heartbreaking loss to the Lady Bulldogs on a walk-off double in the last inning.

The two teams traded leads back and forth the entire game before the Lady Bulldogs pulled out the win in the final moments.

The Lady Blues played a solid game but even with six Burkburnett errors they couldn’t pull out the win.

Graham did all their damage in the first five innings to go up 7-4 but Burkburnett answered and the teams remained tied at 7-7 heading into the final two innings. In the seventh inning, Graham’s Zoey Harrell gave up back-to-back doubles and Burkburnett walked off with the win.

The Lady Blues’ offense came out strong in the opening frame as Calhoun doubled, Brooks walked, and then Larissa Warren (running for Calhoun) and Brooks came around to score on a Lawson double to go up 2-0.

After two innings, however, Burkburnett had answered with four runs on a combination of singles and big hits to lead 4-2. It didn’t last long as the Lady Blues came storming back in the next inning beginning with a home run to left field by Brooks.

Lawson was then hit by a pitch, Olga Morales walked and Harrell drove them both home with a double to center field as Graham retook the lead 5-4.

A couple innings later, the Lady Blues extended their lead by making use of a couple of Burkburnett errors. Brooks reached on an error and came around to score on another one, followed shortly by Morales singling and coming around to score on a third Burkburnett error to push Graham’s lead to 7-4.

But that was where the offense came to a halt for the Lady Blues while the Lady Bulldogs fought back to tie the game and, shortly after, win it.

Graham finished its non-district schedule with a 16-5 record and is currently ranked in the Texas Girls Coaches Association Softball poll at No. 16 in Class 4A. The Lady Blues will open their district schedule Friday, March 22 on the road at Stephenville with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.