Mustangs, Broncos open Zone Tournament with big wins
Jeannine LeJeune is the online editor for the Crowley Post-Signal. She can be reached at jeannine.lejeune@crowleytoday.com or 337-783-3450.
For the Crowley Mustangs, there was a hot offensive start to its appearance in the South Zone Tournament, Brown Bracket, in Burleson, Texas, Thursday night.
In the five team, double elimination bracket, Crowley was given the task of Conroe as its first opponent. A win gave the team a day off, a loss meant facing elimination Friday.
Crowley opted for the former, defeating Conroe by the score of 34-7 in four innings of play.
Crowley, which drew the visitor’s mark swung first, swung early and swung often in the first frame. Knocking down 10 straight hits before drawing a walk and hitting two more. The Mustangs would earn 12 runs in the first outing.
“We were definitely hitting the ball well (Thursday),” said Coach Allen Story.
When it was Conroe’s turn at the plate in the first inning, the team could only muster up two runs, leaving the deficit big and the task daunting.
In fact, even on night when, as Story described it, pitching wasn’t as consistent as it has been during the team’s run to the tournament, Crowley was able to hold Conroe to only seven hits in the four innings of play.
“We shut them down when we needed to,” he said.
The second inning saw both teams’ bats slow some, but still Crowley added six runs to its cause and Conroe only added one.
The pace would pick back up for the visitors in the top of the third when Crowley added nine more runs. The team also pitched a shutout inning keeping Conroe down 27-3 entering the fourth inning, where Crowley added seven more runs and Conroe four.
The Crowley Mustangs had 32 hits on the night.
Broncos start strong, lose second contest
BURLESON, Texas – In other action in Burleson, the Crowley Broncos have started their tournament in the Blue Bracket with a 1-1 record.
The Crowley team started its PONY tournament strong with a 13-3 victory over FW Optimist Thursday night.
But Friday did not go according to plan.
Friday, Crowley fell to San Juan by a score of 15-2 and fell into the loser’s bracket where they were set to face FW Optimist again to stave off elimination.
Scores and stats from Friday’s contest were not immediately available. There will be more in our next edition.