By Tony Adams,
Belton Journal
ROUND ROCK – The Lake Belton Broncos played their second tournament of the season this past weekend, as they participated in the Round Rock Invitational at Lady Dragon Field.
The Broncos started Thursday with a pair of games against the host Dragons and Stony Point.
In the game against the Lady Dragons, the Broncos scored three runs in the third inning and 11 more in the fourth as Lake run-ruled Round Rock, 14-2.
Shelby Schultz fired a one-hitter and struck out ten in the circle for the victory and contributed offensively with three hits and five RBI.
In her first game back from girls’ basketball, Angie DeLeon had two doubles, scored three times, and drove home two runs. Haley Hoffman also doubled and drove in two runs.
In the game against Stony Point, Lake scored seven times in the first inning and held on to run rule the Tigers, 14-4.
Casey Schultz homered and drove in four runs, while Casey Schultz, Madison Perkins, Madison Naser, and Addison Sims each had two hits.
Maddison Ruiz pitched two innings for the victory in the circle, as she allowed an unearned run and struck out five. Natalie Hosch pitched two innings of relief, allowed two unearned runs on three hits, walked one, and struck out two.
On Friday, the Broncos played games against Kyle Lehman and Elgin.
In the Lehman game, Ruiz fired a three-hitter over six innings, Sims collected three extra-base hits, which included a homer, and DeLeon and Casey Schultz added round trippers as the Broncos shut out the Lobos, 8-0.
Casey Schultz also had three hits, and Shelby Schultz, Hoffman, and DeLeon each added two hits.
Against Elgin, the Broncos erased an early 1-0 deficit with six runs in the first inning, added five more in the second, and chipped in three more in the third to run-rule Elgin, 14-1.
DeLeon and Alexis Ortiz homered, and both drove home three runs.
Shelby Schultz picked up the win in the circle, as she allowed a run on two hits, walked one, and struck out six.
On Saturday, the Broncos took on the Madison Mavericks.
Ruiz fired a no-hitter, as she hit two batters and walked one to shut out the Mavericks, 10-0.
Casey Schultz homered and drove in four runs. Shelby Schultz added two runs batted inning, and Perkins added two hits and two steals.
For the tournament, the Broncos outscored their opponents in 24 total innings, 60-7, and outhit the opponents 56-9.
“The team played really well this past weekend. I think we are starting to figure things out as a team and the bats are coming alive,” Lake Belton head coach Kelsie McEachern said. “Anytime you can score runs for your pitchers is always a good thing. Our staff knows they can pitch freely when they have run support, so it was nice for them to work on some things up there on the mound. We still have room to grow in some areas. I do not think we are quite where we need to be just yet and that’s ok. We have this upcoming weekend with our last tournament to help workout some of those areas defensively and on the base paths.”
Following the game with Belton on Tuesday night, the Broncos head south to play in the Central Texas Turf Wars Tournament. On Thursday, the Broncos will play Rains (11 a.m.) and Lorena (1 p.m.) at Glenn High School. On Friday, Lake Belton will take on Georgetown (9 a.m.) and Godley (11 a.m.) at Lady Eagles’ Field in Georgetown. On Saturday, the Broncos will play Leander Rouse (1 p.m.) and Troy (3 p.m.) at Eastview High School in Georgetown.
“This level of competition is what we wanted coming into this season,” McEachern said. “In order to get better you have to face these types of challenges. All these programs are quality programs that know how to compete. This will let us know where we stand at this point in the season and what we still have left to work on. I am very excited and ready for the weekend.”
