By Patrick Dillon
Special to the Sun-Gazette
Farmersville — A third-place finish in the East Sierra League for the Farmersville Aztecs was good enough to get them a No. 4 seed in the Division VI softball playoffs. That led to a home playoff game, which pitted them against a familiar foe – the No. 5-seeded Frazier Mountain Falcons.
The Aztecs found themselves on the verge of the 10-run mercy rule going into the bottom of the sixth inning.
Four runs in the bottom half of that inning extended the game but wasn’t enough to make the comeback.
Farmersville fell to Frazier Mountain 11-7, losing to the Falcons in the playoffs for the second straight season.
“If we would have started the way we ended it would had been a totally different ball game,” said Farmersville coach Effie Romero. “I just think it’s senioritis.”
Mental errors plagued the Aztecs in the field. What seemed like a routine force out at first turned into a wild throw and extra bases for the Falcons.
But the runs were kept at a minimum with Kassandra Romero getting a couple strikeouts and forcing ground balls.
Scoring for the Falcons picked up in the third inning with three runs to make it 5-0. Then the score doubled in the fifth and sixth to put the Aztecs on the verge of elimination.
With their backs against the wall, the Aztecs kicked their game into high gear.
Yvette Morales hits a shot to right field, scoring two, and Karla Renteria reached on a throwing error to first and allowed two more runners to score.
“They have always had that determination. We have always had that struggle this year. They seem to struggle in the beginning and finish strong at the end,” Romero said.
With the momentum building Farmersville had the bottom of the seventh inning to make the miracle happen.
A string of singles drove in three runs to make it respectable but that would be it.
The mountain of runs that Frazier Mountain put up was just too much for the Aztecs to overcome.
With eight seniors graduating in a few weeks’ time, the future for the Aztecs looks to be a rebuilding one. But with determination and girls stepping up to the plate we could very well see this team in the playoffs again next year.
“They all have that drive. They all have that motivation to succeed,” Romero said.
