By Delton Wilhite, Sportswriter

The Lady Mules spotted the Idalou Lady Cats four runs twice Saturday morning. Mother Nature played a late April fool’s joke and dropped the temperature to 33 degrees with a 15 mph wind from the north at game time. It was a balmy 36 degrees when the game ended.

The game time had been changed to 10:00 AM because it was Prom Night in Idalou.

The Lady Mules stormed back in the fifth inning to overtake Idalou for the first time. The Lady Mules went on to defeat the Lady Cats 12-9.

Idalou sent eight to the plate in the bottom of the first inning and scored four runs on three hits. Clarissa Rejino struck out the eighth Lady Cat to the plate to end the inning with the Lady Mules trailing 4-0.

Rejino struck out the first two batters she faced in the bottom of the second inning. A ground ball to Brianna Barron ended the inning when she made the toss to Melody Moran at first base. Idalou continued to lead 4-0.

The good defensive effort in the bottom of the second inning seemed to warm the Lady Mule offense, and they took advantage of two Idalou errors.

Mia Reyna was hit by a pitch after falling behind in the pitch count, 0-2. She went to second on a wild pitch. Barron tapped a ground ball back to third to advance Reyna to third base with the sacrifice.

Emili Mora lined a single by the second baseman to score Reyna. Madison Hasley sent a groundball through the hole for a single and two throwing errors allowed Mora to score and Hasley to reach third base.

Dellany Martinez grounded out to second base to sacrifice Hasley across the plate for the Lady Mules third run. The Lady Mules trailed 4-3 after two and a half innings.

The Lady Mules efforts evaporated in the bottom of the third inning as the Lady Cats scored three runs on two hits and two Lady Mule errors. The Lady Mules trailed 7-3 after three innings.

Back-to-back base hits up the middle by AB Mendoza, and Reyna put Lady Mules on first and third bases to lead off the fourth inning. Mora was allowed to reach first base on an error by the pitcher and Mendoza crossed the plate and Reyna went to third base.

Hasley sent a fly ball to deep left field to sacrifice Reyna home. The Lady Mules had trimmed the Idalou lead to 7-5 after three and a half innings.

The first two Lady Cats singled to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. The third hitter grounded a ball back to Rejino. She scooped up the ball and fired a strike to Jillian Rojas at third base to cut down the lead runner.

One run scored for Idalou on a single to centerfield. A fly ball to right field was caught by Mendoza, and the final out came on a ground ball to Mora at short, and she tossed to Barron at second to end the inning. Idalou led 8-5 after four innings.

Rojas battled at the plate in the top of the fifth inning. She took the count full, fouled off four pitches before drawing a one-out walk. Rejino singled to center to put Lady Mules at first and second base. An error on the second baseman allowed Mendoza to reach and load the bases with Lady Mules.

A wild pitch allowed Rojas to score. Rejino and Mendoza to moved up a base. The catcher’s attempt to throw out Rojas was wide of home plate and out to the reach of the pitcher. Rejino and Mendoza scored on the throwing error.

Reyna singled down the right-field line. Barron singled to right field to advance Reyna to second base. Mora sacrificed Reyna and Barron up a base. The shortstop failed to hang on to Hasley’s pop fly to allow her to reach first base. A throwing error by the shortstop allowed Reyna and Barron to score. The five runs pushed the Lady Mules in front of the Lady Cats 10-8.

Rejino struck out the first to Lady Cats she faced in the bottom of the fifth inning. Moran scooped up a ground ball to first and stepped on the bag for the third out of the inning. The Lady Mules led Idalou 10-8 after five complete innings.

The Lady Mules added one run in each of the next two innings while the Lady Cats could only scratch out one run.

The Lady Mules had scored 12 runs on nine hits, and Idalou committed seven errors. The Lady Mules stranded eight runners. Rejino struck out five batters and only allowed two free passes.

Idalou scored nine runs on 13 hits and left seven on base. The Lady Mules only committed two errors.

The Lady Mules hosted the Littlefield Lady Cats Tuesday and will travel to Shallowater Friday, April 13, to play the Fillies.