By CHRIS DUKES
Correspondent

A rough start and bad breaks had the Cedar Park softball team facing a must-win situation against Round Rock Monday night. The ladies took that fact to heart, slaying the Round Rock Lady Dragons in a 4-1 win.
“We were really motivated for this one,” senior Stephanie Raesz said. “The whole team understood how important this game was.”
Coach Cami Jenschke said Monday’s win is a morale booster for the team which lead the entire game.
“After the way the past few games have gone for us, it gets hard to keep telling the girls to do things right,” she said.
The Lady T’Wolves snatched a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Raesz led off with a double, and Janelle Lopez knocked her in with a single. The lead would hold to the seventh inning thanks to a solid relief effort by Kate Mayfield on the mound. Going into the game’s final inning leading 1-0, Jenschke urged her team not to be satisfied.
“We challenged them to put up two runs in the top of the seventh,” she said. “They answered by scoring three.”
Megan Schade came up with the game-breaking two-run double in the seventh, while Kaeli Tiefel  added an insurance run with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0. The Lady Dragons tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh, but Mayfield shut the door after one run to make the final 4-1 score.
Mackenzie Loftin and Mayfield combined to pick up the win on the mound. Schade finished the game 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.
The win comes after the Lady T’Wolves dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker to Georgetown. Cedar Park went into the seventh inning tied 1-1, but a late Lady Eagle run dashed its hopes.
Cedar Park spent a lot of time working in the batter’s box last week.
“The Georgetown pitcher pitched us outside a lot,” junior Megan Shade said. “We worked a lot on hitting it and getting the ball into play. I think we are hitting better now than we have been all season.”
Aside from the recent improvement in their hitting prowess, Jenschke feels some intangible qualities are starting to come together for the Lady T’Wolves.
“I feel like we jelled a little as a team tonight,” Jenschke said. “Hopefully this will be a turning point for us.”
The Lady T’Wolves welcome Stony Point on Tuesday before playing in the Leander ISD Tournament beginning March 25.