Ashley Martinez won her third game of the tournament, and had to battle the Lobos down to the wire to earn it.
“I felt pretty confident <\!m> I was ready to win,” Martinez said. She said repeating as the tournament champions was important, no matter how tough it was to do it.
“It was a little iffy there at the end, but we proved we could come together as a team,” said the senior hurler, who allowed just one run in 22 innings in the tournament, after blanking Levelland and Midland High JV in her first two starts.
The Lady Tigers were down 1-0 in the top of the seventh, when freshman Terann Ragland crushed a two-out, two-strike triple to drive in Kelsi Johnson and tie the game.
Laura Clanton then drove in Heather Zajicek for the game-winner in the top of the eighth.
Kelsi Johnson shut down Greenwood, 6-1, in the semifinal game, as head coach Darren Pool altered his rotation to give a different look to both Greenwood and Monahans.
Johnson had pitched against Monahans, and Martinez threw against Greenwood earlier this season.
“We battled back, and our defense helped out a lot,” Pool said. “All weekend we hit well. It was our best and most consistent softball of the year, and it’s coming at the right time.”
Pool also got some personal revenge on the team that knocked his Kermit squad from the playoffs in 2002.
“It’s a great win for the girls and a great win for me personally. This is just a great group of girls,” he said.