After receiving a 13-1 thrashing at the hands of the Queen City Lady Bulldogs to open the regional-qualifying round, the Mineola Lady Jackets were determined to challenge Queen City for the series. They came out strong, but fell 3-1 last Thursday in Tatum, ending the 2024 campaign.

Queen City did all it needed in the bottom of the first inning. They tagged Mineola starter Journie Wilson for six hits and chalked up three runs. The Lady Bulldogs churned out five singles and a 2-run round-tripper off the bat of Trinity Oden. 

To her great credit, Wilson put that inning behind her, and in the next five innings, she gave up only two hits with one strike-out and one walk. After the first, Mineola allowed only four base runners in the remainder of the game. 

But those three runs in the bottom of the first were enough. Two critical first-inning plays may have changed the momentum and course of the whole game had they fallen in Mineola’s favor. 

The first came after Jaycee Smith opened the game by reaching on an error. Jadelyn Marshall came in to run for Smith. Caroline Castleberry pushed her to second with a well-placed bunt. 

Mahayla McMahon stepped-in and belted a double off the wall in right-center. The short fence and velocity with which the ball was hit combined to give Queen City a shot at a nailing Marshall at the plate. A near perfect throw did just that. McMahon was then stranded and a hopeful first inning generated naught for the Lady Jackets.

The second critical play came in the bottom half. The lead-off Lady Bulldog hitter singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Mineola caught her off the bag between second and third, and – after a long pickle – tagged her out at third base. 

A protest from Queen City followed and the four umpires convened a lengthy midfield caucus. The call was reversed, the runner awarded third base as Mineola was called for interference/obstruction. 

Queen City went on to register their three first-inning runs, and the Lady Jackets never got that game-opening momentum back.

Trinity Oden went the distance for Queen City. She gave up five hits,  struck out eight and issued no free passes. Oden is not an overpowering pitcher. Her strength is in her consistent motion. She has no wasted movement and her mental discipline was obvious. Her techniques seldom gave Lady Jacket hitters clean contact with the ball. 

Mahayla McMahon and Kaitlyn McMahon each went 2 for 3 and Gracie Lindley added a single. 

The Lady Jackets staged a late seventh-inning rally. With one away Kaitlyn McMahon launched a ball over the right fielder’s head and legged out a triple. 

Lindley stepped up to the plate and faked a bunt. The fake caused the Queen City second baseman to start moving toward first. Lindley promptly slapped the pitch to the very spot vacated by the fielder. It was a moment of exquisite baseball. The next two hitters went down and the 2024 season ended.