In their final outing prior to the March 19 District 6-4A softball opener at Glen Rose, the Brownwood Lady Lions turned in one of their most complete performances of the season in an 8-2 home victory over the Gatesville Lady Hornets Tuesday afternoon.

“I asked the ladies to leave everything, all their doubts, all their reservations, out here on the field before we start district and they came out and played lights out,” said Lady Lions second-year head coach Cherita Munguia. “Tynlea Wilson had great movement on the ball, she looked confident and had a groove going. Our outfielders struggled at the tournament but there was no question today every ball that went in the air they were going to take care of. I’m very proud of the way they showed up today.”

The Lady Lions (6-8) scored five runs over the course of the first two innings to seize firm control of the contest against Gatesville (12-11).

Carlee Burks led off with a flare to right field in the bottom of the first, then Chloe Walls rattled a one-out double off the left field wall. Lila Mares followed with an RBI sacrifice bunt that scored Burks, while Peyton Pena delivered an RBI single that dribbled its way between shortstop and third base to plate the second run.

Brownwood stretched the advantage to 5-0 in the second inning without the benefit of a base hit. Karina Mata walked with one out and Burks then reached on an error, prior to Jeniffer Romero drawing a free pass to load the sacks. A bases-loaded walk by Walls scored Mata with the third run, then Burks raced home on a wild pitch for a 4-0 lead. With two outs, back-to-back walks to Jakayla Peek and Pena forced home the fifth Brownwood run.

“We wanted to be aggressive from the get-go,” Munguia said of grabbing the early lead. “We have to put the ball down sometimes, move runners, not be afraid to sacrifice for the person in front of you or behind you. We’re seeing the ball a lot better, our discipline really helped us today and gave us a little bit of an edge.”

Brownwood added its sixth run in the bottom of third inning as Wilson led off with a single and courtesy runner Mykaela Mendoza came home following an errant pick-off attempt at third base.

The final two Lady Lion runs crossed the plate in the fifth inning as Mata reached on an error and later scored on a wild pitch, while Burks reached on an infield single and later scored when Walls legged out a two-out RBI infield base hit.

In the circle, Wilson yielded single runs in the third and fourth innings, as she tossed a six-hitter with three strikeouts, two walks, one hit batter and six base runners stranded.

The Lady Lion defense committed two errors, both of those on attempt pick-off attempts on the base paths as Brownwood players fielded every ball hit their way cleanly.

Regarding the Lady Lions looking as sharp as they did in all aspects Tuesday, Munguia said, “It’s so important. I asked everyone to give us until we play Glen Rose and I told the girls that. Today was the day we had to make some decisions to be sure we’re ready to go for district and they did everything today I could have asked them to do. We worked on some things, some kids got to see some pitches that hadn’t got in the lineup, so it was just a great day for us.”

Assessing the team heading into the heart of the schedule and 6-4A action, Munguia added, “The girls have seen they can beat some good teams. This past weekend was crazy with girls gone to the stock show, band trip, cheer tryouts, so we had different kids at different positions and different spots in the lineup every single day. They got to see we can be successful no matter who is out there, it takes all of us regardless of your role on the team. Heading into district it’s huge for them to know every single one of them is vital to us.”