Lady Yoe bats hot in season-opening win

If you’re a fan of pitching and defense, then Cameron’s season opener at Madisonville was not the game you needed to be at. Despite frigid temperatures, the Lady Yoe bats were red hot in a 19-13 win over the Lady Mustangs.

Cameron pounded out 14 hits, including 5 home runs to begin the season at 1-0. For outgoing head coach Abe Vargas, it was great to see the lineup come together and put up an all-around strong performance.

“It’s great, especially with the cold weather,” said Vargas which will be leaving the school district on February 16 to begin his duties as athletic director at Runge ISD. “We talked about things that we cannot control like the weather, and that is just part of the game. We had to be mentally tough.”

Yoe leadoff batter Kenzie Wimmer’s stats were some of the most impressive you could ever expect to see in a single game.

Wimmer finished 5-5 with 3 home runs, a double, single and 8 total runs drivin in. The junior simply said that it was important for her team to begin this season in the win column.

“This was our first game of the season and this is the one that is going to help us out throughout,” said Wimmer. “If we would have lost, we would have not had momentum going into Caldwell. This shows us that we have what it takes to get wins.”

Shortstop Karla Martinez’s number should not be overlooked. The senior also had two home runs on the evening, walked twice and drove in 3 runs.

“I actually started off the season pretty bad in Troy, and I was determined to not let that happen again,” said Martinez on her output. “I had coach Vargas come up to me and we put in as much work in at the cage that we could.”

Cameron jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first. Wimmer was drove in by an Ashlee Balch RBI single before Martinesz homered to center.

Madisonville eventually took a 7-4 lead heading into the fourth inning. That is when Martinez homered to center before Wimmer scored on a passed ball to bring the score to 7-6. Wimmer homered in the fifth, scoring Alejandra Ibarra to give Cameron the 8-7 lead.

Cameron lost the lead again in the bottom half of the inning, 9-8, before exploding for a 7-run sixth to create separation. Cameron sent 13 batters to the plate in the big inning.

“It was good that a lot of the other starters came on and that helps a lot,” said Vargas. “When

the lineup can help, then the top can generate a lot of runs.”

Martinez added that the group seems to be improved overall offensively. “Most of the girls in the lineup have improved so much and I’m just really excited for this,” said Martinez.

Wimmer added: “As much as we hit in practice helps us a lot. All of these girls are so coachable and it helps so much.”

Ibarra picked up the win from the circle, going 6 innings while giving up 9 hits, 7 earned runs, walking 4 and striking out 9.

Cameron will next be in Caldwell on Friday before their home opener takes place on Tuesday with Moody.