Ada clips Maud with seventh-inning comeback
Apr. 18—MAUD — It was high time one of these games went the Ada Lady Cougars' way.
Ariana Munoz hit a single with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning and two runs scored on the play giving the Lady Cougars a thrilling 4-3 walk-off victory over Maud at home Friday night.
Ada improved to 8-17 on the year, while Class No. 10 Maud dropped to 15-5. Ada has been on the wrong side of seven games decided by four runs or fewer this spring.
Coach Jeremy Strong's club was at the Madill Festival Monday night and battled Class 5A No. 10 Dickson and the host Lady Wildcats. Class A No. 13 Kiowa and Class 4A No. 18 Holdenville visit the Ada High Softball Complex at 4:30 p.m. tonight in festival action.
Ada then opens its playoff slate on Thursday at a Class 5A District Tournament in Chandler. Ada meets Bethel in a first-round matchup with No. 9 Chandler awaiting after that.
Maud's Reese Street hit a three-run homer in the top of the fifth inning that erased a 2-0 deficit and put the Tigers ahead 3-2. It stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh.
Abbey Strong and Rylynn Truett started Ada's late rally with back-to-back singles to lead off the frame. Kiki Williams was intentionally walked to load the bases after both AHS runners advanced on a fly-out by Tyley Dotson.
Munoz then delivered her clutch hit that scored Strong from third and Truett raced home on a Maud error to end the game.
Munoz, who finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead a 14-hit Ada barrage, clubbed an RBI double in the bottom of the first inning to give her team a 1-0 lead.
Jordynn Bellville hit a two-out, run-scoring single in the bottom of the second to boost the Ada advantage to 2-0.
Strong said it was nice to see his team — who was playing without slugger Jakobi Williams — pile up some hits despite leaving 10 runners on base.
"We hit the ball really well. We ripped line drives off the wall. If we get any kind of air under them, we might have hit about 10 home runs," he said.
Four Ada players had two hits each. Abbey Strong and Tyley Dotson both finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and Gracie Dotson and Makenzi Burden each went 2-for-3. Tyley Dotson hit a double.
Truett finished 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored for the home team.
Street, Aubrey Williams and Janlee Impson all had two hits each for the Maud squad.
