Calallen outslugs Liberty to claim 4A State Title 9-7

AUSTIN – The 2023 season will be another for the history books, as the Liberty Lady Panthers reached the Class 4A State Championship game for the third consecutive year. Unfortunately, the result was not what they hoped for, as they fell 9-7 to Corpus Christi Calallen 9-7. 

In a rematch of the 2021 State Championship Game where Liberty routed Calallen, it wasn't meant to be as the ladies from Corpus flipped the script on the defending state champion Lady Panthers. 

Calallen finished with 13 hits for the day. Ryanna Rodela had three hits, and teammate Makenzie Mounts added two hits and three RBIs, along with taking home the MVP honors.  

"They had 48 home runs coming into today, so they can hit," said Lady Panthers Head Coach Karen Slack. "We fell behind a little too much and could not make up the difference," added Slack. "Our ladies played hard and battled back and gave it their all."  

Liberty opened the game on fire with the first four players reaching. Bailee Slack walked and then Reese Evans singled. Hollie Thomas almost had another home run, but the ball hit the top of the fence and rolled back in away from the Lady Wildcats center fielder, allowing Thomas to coast into third with a triple and the Lady Panthers led 2-0. Alex Wiley followed with a dying line drive that rolled past right fielder Rilyn Gamez for another triple and Liberty was ahead 3-0 with still no one out in the opening inning. Freshman pitcher Jordyn Thibodeaux battled back and stranded Wiley at third base, with the score still being 3-0.  

Calallen used three hits in their first at-bat to get a run and closed the deficit to 3-1 after an inning of play.  

After a scoreless second and third inning by both teams, the Lady Wildcats got the bats going in the bottom of the fourth inning as third baseman Alaunah Almaraz drove a pitch over the left field wall for a sole home run, and the score was 3-2. Three straight singles and a two-run double by Mounts had Calallen leading 5-3. Kylee Bishop was inserted in the circle in relief of starting pitcher Brookelyn Taylor and retired the next three outs leaving Mounts stranded on base.  

The Lady Panthers loaded the bases in the fifth inning as Breezy Pantalion and Evans each singled and Thomas walked. With two outs and the bases full, Lady Wildcats center fielder Mia Flores made perhaps the play of the game by robbing Liberty's Abby Vickers of extra bases with a diving catch for the third out of the inning.  

Calallen then went to work at the plate again for the second straight inning and added four more runs and the Lady Wildcats advantage had increased to 9-3 heading into the sixth inning.  

The Lady Panthers then started to chop into the lead. Bishop walked and then a double by Abby Key cut the deficit to 9-4. Taylor then made it 9-5 with an RBI single to left field. Taylor, who was inserted back into the circle in the fifth inning, pitched a scoreless sixth inning and Liberty had one last crack at the plate.  

Evans doubled and then a hustling double by Thomas had runners on second and third. One out later, Vickers doubled to score both Evans and Thomas, and Liberty was down 9-7. Thibodeaux battled back and got a strikeout for the second out of the inning, then induced a shortstop pop-up for the final out of the game to set off the Calallen celebration.  

Evans finished with three hits and two runs scored, while Wiley had an RBI triple in their final game as Lady Panthers. We wish Reese and Alex lots of success at the college level. Thomas added two hits and two RBIs to finish her state tournament with five hits and seven RBIs.  

Taylor had three strikeouts on the bump, while Bishop had one.  

Liberty finished their season with an exemplary 37-9 record.