The Alba-Golden Lady Panthers have returned to softball action. They dispatched the Palestine Lady Wildcats last Tuesday in Alba-Golden’s 2022 home opener, 12-2. 

Lady Panther Megan Wallace threw the complete five innings, surrendering four hits and issuing only one free pass. Wallace remained composed throughout, using excellent placement and subtle velocity changes to keep the opposition hitters off balance. 

Her best work was in the fourth. The lead-off Lady Wildcat absolutely crushed a ball to right-center field. It two hopped to the wall, and the lead-off batter legged out a stand-up triple.  

Wallace just bore down. She put the next three hitters down in order with a swinging strike-out, a pop out and a ground-ball comebacker. 

The game was tied at 2-2 going into the bottom of the second. The Lady Panthers pushed five runs across in the bottom half, taking advantage of some loose pitching by the visitors.

Although the runs were officially unearned, that doesn’t tell the whole story. The Lady Panthers aggressively ran the bases, often taking an extra base solely through heightened situational awareness and hustle. Kalli Trimble’s score in the bottom of the third was a great example of this. 

Alba-Golden put 17 runners on base, scoring 12 – a great percentage.

The home-opener was not without some nice defensive work. Of specific note Cacie Lennon made a great play on a ground ball in the hole and gunned a long throw to Kylie Kennedy at first for the out.

The season is young, with recent weather having nixed some early games, but the Lady Panthers have disclosed a couple of characteristics of their season ahead. They will be an aware team, with plenty of aggressiveness and work ethic. 

After participating in the Union Grove tourney and traveling to Brownboro and Van for pre-district games, the Lady Panthers commence district play March 22 in Yantis.