By News Staff on Thu, 05/02/2019 - 00:00

    No hit was given up until the fifth inning in the Lady Eagle’s 5-1 season ending loss to Shiner last Thursday in a bi-district playoff showdown in Smithville between Milano’s Jenna Lewis and Shiner’s Cameron Cowan

    “We all knew going into this game that it would be a pitching duel,” said Amanda Keen, MHS softball coach. “But they just out hit us in one inning and that’s all it took. We tried to come back in the final inning but it didn’t happen the way we wanted it to.”

    With the score still tied at zero, Lady Comanche Emily Vincik led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a double to give Shiner their second hit of the game. SHS then got another runner on with an error in the infield and Taylor Wenske loaded the bases to bring up their fourth batter in the lineup with no outs. She hit an in-the-park grand slam to deep left-field which gave the Texas High School Girls Coaches Association’s number two-ranked Class 2A team took a 4-0 lead.

    Shiner scored once more in the inning with an RBI-double by Delaney Rainosek, putting them up fi ve.

    In their last chance, MHS rallied with two outs when Sterling Robertson got a hit. Laynie Bastow then got two second base with error at first and Robertson advanced to third. Kristian Taylor brought in Robertson with a base hit to make the score 5-1. MHS then popped out on the final play to end the season.

    The Lady Eagles ended their season 12-12-1. They will lose Lewis, Bastow and Robertson to graduation.

    “I taught these girls since the eighth grade and they’ve grown up right in front of me,” Keen said. “It’s been an honor coaching them and I’ll miss these three.”

    Keen also mentioned Lewis’s impact during her four years as the pitcher for Milano.

    “It’s been phenomenal.” Keen said. “She’s broken so many records here and really set the bar high. We have so many younger girls who idolize her and want to be the next Jenna Lewis.”

    Lewis ends her Milano career with a school record of 918 strikeouts and 511.1 innings thrown. She will continue her softball career at Kilgore College in the fall.