Lady Chargers win to stay in playoff hunt

The Champion softball team led from start to finish on Tuesday when the Lady Chargers visited Kyle Lehman for a district skirmish.

Champion jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and never trailed and went on to win the game, 7-5.

The Lady Chargers are 12-8-1 overall and 8-5 in district. They hosted Seguin on Thursday in a key 26-5A game.

It’s getting down to crunch time for the Lady Chargers softball team as they entered the final two weeks of the regular season and are battling for a playoff spot. They are tied with Seguin and Kerrville Tivy at 8-5 going into Thursday’s game.

In Tuesday’s game, the Chargers scored its 3 runs in the first with two outs, but a Lehman double in the bottom of the frame made it 3-1.

In the fourth, an Ashley Ottmers double helped unload the bases and bump the Chargers lead to 6-1, again with two outs.

Lehman made it interesting with 2 runs in the bottom of the fourth and again in the fifth and the Chargers lead was down to a run at 6-5, but Champion picked up an insurance run in the top of the sixth when Lily Ritchie scored on a passed ball for the two-run cushion at 7-5.

The Lobos only put on one base runner in its final two at bats with a walk in the sixth, but the runner was thrown out on the base paths trying to steal second.

In the seventh, Carman Vela retired the side in order with two strikeouts and a pop up to second.

Vela picked up the win on 131 pitches and gave up 5 hits, 3 earned runs, fanned 12 and walked 4.

Even though the score was close, the Chargers outhit the Lobos, 12-5.

Ashley Ottmers finished with a double and a single and 3 RBI; Riley Murrish hit 2 singles and scored a run; Gabi Vela singled; Krista Tarver hit 2 singles; Carmen Vela helped her cause with 2 singles, 1 RBI and a run scored, while Ava Trevino also hit 2 singles, picked up 1 RBI and scored once.

Lily Ritchie singled and scored twice, while Jaycee Bendele and Kassidy Kureska both scored a run.