In the realm of baseball and softball, one has to respect the game. The fortunes of the game honor effort and attention. However, if one is not mentally prepared to play, the fortunes of the game turn. 

The Malakoff Lady Tigers came to Mineola last Friday and left two hours later with a 10-8 win over the Lady Jackets.

Mineola errors undid the Lady Jackets. It started with the lead-off hitter for Malakoff, who slashed a base hit to right which scooted under the glove of the outfielder and rolled to the fence. An errant relay throw back in the infield allowed the hitter to score. 

It was a bit of a shock and was likely shrugged off as an odd (and for Mineola unusual) passage of play. Unfortunately, it was a forewarning of things to come.  

The Lady Jackets came back in the bottom half and with the help of an infield base hit from Kaitlyn McMahon, a single from Mahayla McMahon and a triple off the bat of Journie Wilson, took a 2-1 lead.     

In the third, the fortunes turned against Mineola. A ball glanced off an infielder’s mitt resulting in an infield base hit. A passed ball took a wild careen off the bricks behind home plate, and a Malakoff runner scored from third. 

At the end of three innings, it was 6-3 Malakoff.

Malakoff did put the ball in play. They chased Mineola starter Micah Morman (6 H, 0 K, 1 BB) after two and a third innings. Wilson came in for Mineola and finished the game. She gave up seven hits, struck out three and issued one free pass. 

Going into the bottom of the sixth, Malakoff led 10-4. With two outs, the Lady Jackets put together a notable rally. 

Jadelyn Marshall, Jorja Young, Courtney Nguyen, Morman and Caroline Castleberry each stepped up and recorded consecutive singles. It was a great piece of team hitting. The Lady Jackets had closed the score to 10-8 and left themselves one inning to take the game.

Malakoff held on behind a complete-game effort of their hurler Alabama Anding.   

The Lady Jackets will take this gut-punch and learn from it. They are a better team than their six-error performance against Malakoff indicated.

The Lady Jackets will next be at home on Friday when they host Winona.