Lady Tigers lose season opener against St. Michaels

The Taos Lady Tigers rallied late on Monday (March 13) in their season opener against the St. Michael’s Lady Horsemen, giving

Penny Espinosa a chance to walk off the mound victorious in her first start of the season.

St. Michael’s brought two runs around home plate in the top of the first, and Taos answered right back with two runs of their own.

In the top of the second inning, the Lady Tigers showed solid fielding despite conceding a run. They turned a classic 4-6-3 double play — with shortstop Ariana Gutierrez throwing an accurate ball to first baseman Jordan Mirabal — to clear the bases of runners.

Bella Lucero cracked the bottom of the second open with an opposite field triple for the righty. A sac fly on the next at bat sent Lucero home for the equalizer. After getting a second run to take a 4-3 lead, Mirabal struck out swinging to end the inning for the Lady Tigers.

Lady Horseman Mariella Ruiz blasted a laser beam straight down the third base line that was almost caught but just squeaked out of the glove. Then, Mirabal couldn’t quite corral the throw to first base into her glove. St. Michael’s brought in two more runs off an RBI double. A wild pitch from Espinosa gave them an additional run. Espinosa ended the inning with two straight grounders from the St. Michael’s batters.

The Lady Tigers had nothing going in the third, one of the few uneventful innings thrown by Lady Horsemen Erianna Sisneros. Sisneros racked up a high pitch count of 128 pitches thrown in seven innings while giving up 13 runs for the day.

After being down as much as 4-12 after the top of the fourth, the Lady Tigers pounced on St. Michael’s in the bottom of the sixth inning with a five-run scoring outburst to take a 13-12 lead.

With runners in scoring position, the Lady Tigers were stumped by an infield pop fly. No one could get to it first, but the infield fly rule took effect and gave them an automatic out.

The next batter popped it up

into the air again, although, this time with no runners on first base, there was no bail out for the Lady Tigers, who could not get to the pop fly in time. From there, the errors kept compounding for Taos.

A bobble and a missed catch at second base followed another error, followed by an overthrow to first on a routine play that saw St. Michael’s storm back to negate the Lady Tiger rally.

The Lady Horsemen closed it out 17-13.

Taos will host Capital on Tuesday (March 21) for a double header.

NATHAN BURTON/Taos News LEFT: Taos’ Isabella Lucero swings and makes contact during a home game against St. Michael’s Monday (March 13). RIGHT: The Lady Tigers’ Penny Espinosa winds up a pitch Monday (March 13) during a home game against the Lady Horsemen.

NATHAN BURTON/Taos News St. Michael’s Mariella Ruiz slides to second as Taos’ Mia Jeantette reaches for the catch Monday (March 13) during the season’s first game in Taos.

The Taos Lady Tigers kicked off the season with a home match against St. Michael’s Lady Horsemen Monday (March 13).

The Lady Tigers’ Penny Espinosa sends a pitch Monday (March 13) during a home game against the Lady Horsemen.