She can check that off her to-do list as she went 5 for 6 with seven RBIs and capped Consol’s offensive outburst with a grand slam in the seventh inning to help the Lady Tigers to an 18-3 victory over Rudder at Lady Ranger Field on Tuesday.
“I haven’t been hitting the ball very well, so I started running, and I saw it go out, and it hit me like ‘Ah, it went out. Finally,’” Coleman said. “It’s a very big step forward heading into the [College Station] game because I need to be ready for that game, especially. It’s going to be a tough game.”
Coleman’s slam was the finale of a nine-run seventh inning for Consol (18-7, 8-3), which notched seven hits in the frame and saw eight of nine Lady Tigers reach base safely at least once. Coleman singled off Rudder reliever Jocelyn Montoya to lead off the inning then later sent the first pitch from Maddie Johnson well over the left-field fence. Johnson started for Rudder (6-22, 2-9) and was relieved by Montoya with two outs in the fourth inning before coming back in the circle with one out in the seventh.
Consol had 23 hits with every starter getting at least one, and seven Lady Tigers had multi-hit games. Senior Lauren Sorrells and junior CC Dietert excelled as table setters, going a combined 7 for 10 with a walk at the top of the lineup, and Claire Sisco did well turning the lineup over from the nine-spot, going 3 for 4 with a walk.
“We’ve been coming out pretty flat, so we came out and scored a few runs in the first and second innings,” Consol assistant coach Olivia Humphries said. “We’ve been hitting well toward the end of games, so we tried to keep up with that and keep the girls loud and keep them going. No matter how bad it’s going or how good it’s going, you’ve gotta keep scoring runs.”
Consol starter Mackenzie Mitchell tossed a complete game, allowing three runs, two earned, on seven hits and two walks with eight strikeouts.
Montoya got the Lady Rangers on the board in the second, taking advantage of a second chance as Consol dropped a foul popup on a full-count pitch. Montoya sent the next offering over the left-field fence, just to the right of the scoreboard, for a solo home run to cut Consol’s lead to 3-1.
Rudder inched closer in the third as Kat Ybarra led off the frame with a walk and stole second with no outs. Ybarra moved to third on a ground out and scored on Gabby Garcia’s single to left to make it 3-2.
“One of our focuses was to eliminate a lot of the strikeouts,” Rudder coach BJ Mendez said. “At the beginning, we were doing a great job of doing that. All of a sudden, after we stopped scoring runs and we stopped hitting, [Mitchell] started picking up more strikeouts. It kind of put us in a bind to where she found her groove, and it was our turn to find that magic we had. The sun went down and so did our hitting.”
Mitchell retired 10 of the last 12 batters she faced, six via strikeouts.
Consol grabbed control with a four-run fourth for a 7-2 lead and never looked back.
Sisco drew a leadoff walk, and after a Sorrells’ sacrifice bunt, Dietert, Lauren Herring and Coleman followed with singles, with Coleman’s plating Sisco. A sacrifice fly from Mitchell scored Dietert, and Olivia Taylor and Addie Wright added RBI singles.
Rudder added one run in the fourth as Alisha Wallace singled and stole second, moving to third on the play because of a throwing error, before coming home on a double steal attempt. Rudder’s Kylee Shafer was caught stealing at second on the play, and the Lady Rangers mustered just three hits the rest of the game.
Consol on Friday will be at College Station, which suffered its first 19-5A loss 5-2 against Waller on Tuesday, at 6 p.m. Friday, while Rudder will host Brenham at 6:30 p.m.
A&M Consolidated 18, Rudder 3
Consol 210 420 9 — 18 23 2
Rudder 011 100 0 — 3 7 3
Mackenzie Mitchell and CC Dietert; Madison Johnson, Jocelyn Montoya (4), Johnson (7) and Alexis Duran.
W — Mitchell. L — Johnson.
Leading hitters: CONSOL (18-7, 8-3) — Aiyana Coleman 5-6, 2B, HR, 7 RBIs, 3 runs; Lauren Sorrells 4-5, 2 runs; Dietert 3-5, BB, RBI, 4 runs; Claire Sisco 3-4, BB, RBI, 3 runs; Mitchell 2-3, 2B, B... Click here to read full article
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