GAME STORY: Big fifth inning fuels Abilene High to 7-0 win over Wylie in series opener

The series opener between Abilene High and Wylie was the pitcher’s duel many expected for 4½ innings Friday at Abilene Christian University’s Poly Wells Field.

But when the Lady Eagles finally broke through against Lady Bulldogs starter Halli Russell in the bottom of the fifth, they did it big, pushing across seven runs to turn a scoreless thriller into a comfortable 7-0 win and take a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-three Region I-5A quarterfinal clash.

The victory, which improved Abilene High to 24-13-1 on the year, has the Lady Eagles within one win of their first trip to the fourth round of the playoffs since 2003 — something they’ll try to secure when the series resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday back at ACU.

“They’ve been ready to play all week,” Abilene High coach Jenna Aguirre said of her team. “I know we didn’t score in the first four innings, but we were putting the ball in play and we were having good at-bats. So we just kept telling them to be patient and keep having those at-bats and eventually they’d start falling.” 

For more than four innings Friday, Game 1 played out much the same way the two regular-season matchups between the Lady Eagles and Lady Bulldogs had, with Russell and Abilene High ace Diana Silva going back and forth trying to one-up each other.

Heading into the fifth inning, the teams had combined for just three hits, and the only serious scoring opportunity for either team was quelled when Andria Starks was cut down at the plate to end the home half of the second.

But the game turned on a dime in the fifth, when Silva pitched around a leadoff double to put up a fifth consecutive zero in the top of the inning and her lineup exploded for the game-deciding rally in the bottom.

The Lady Eagles sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning, tallying six hits and three walks while taking advantage of a Wylie error to tag Russell with seven runs — all but three of those earned.

“You don’t want to be on the side of it where things start to snowball, and it didn’t seem like anything we did kind of went our way,” said Wylie coach Heather Collier, whose team fell to 28-9 with the loss. “They capitalized on it, and that’s what you do. I’m hoping we bounce back. 

“Being in town in a stressful situation, it’s asking a lot of this young team, but I just reminded them that we were doing something right to get here, and our five returners have done a heck of a job leading this group where we are. We just need to settle in, let mistakes go and move on to the next pitch.” 

Kinzley Cantu had the big blow for AHS in the fifth, smashing a one-out, bases-loaded double just beyond the reach of Wylie left fielder Londyn Franklin to score the game’s first two runs. That opened flood gates that wouldn’t close until Lady Bulldogs reliever Avie Faries came in for Russell and drew a bases-loaded groundout from Brie Reed to escape further damage.

After Mariah Estrada made it 3-0 with an RBI sac bunt, Aubriana Camacho, Starks and Marissa Cardenas all added run-scoring hits to provide additional insurance for Silva, who pitched six scoreless innings before giving way to sophomore Avah Reyes in the seventh.

“She’s done a heck of a job all season long,” Aguirre said of Silva, who allowed two hits and a walk while tallying just one strikeout. “Honestly, she’s done so well sometimes we have to tell her it’s OK if she doesn’t strike out the whole lineup, that we have a great defense to play behind her and it’s going to be a team effort from this round on.” 

Abilene High, which played error-free softball, finished with eight hits, getting its only multi-hit game from Cardenas, who had a pair of RBIs to go with her two singles. Cantu also drove in two runs, while seven different players scored one run. 

Wylie, which had only five batters reach base in the loss, got its only two hits from third baseman Wynslow Miller, who ripped a leadoff single in the second and a leadoff double in the fifth.

Now up in the series one game to none, the Lady Eagles will try to close out their crosstown rival on Saturday. 

But Aguirre knows there’s a lot of softball still to be played.

“(This was a) great start and we’re super proud, but nothing’s secure,” she said. “We were down Game 1 in the first round and came back and won both, and we can easily be on the other side of that. So I just told them we’ve got to come back and play our game again (Saturday).”

Collier’s squad, meanwhile, will be looking to rally for a pair of wins to extend its season another week.

“You just have to (regroup),” the longtime Wylie coach said. “They’ve been playing softball long enough, and I’ve told them all season it’s a rollercoaster ride. We’ve been on a high for quite a while, but when you get to this point in the playoffs it’s a battle.

“It was toe for toe until that (fifth) inning. We’ve just got to know that we can do it and we just can’t give up on each other. We’ve just got to find a way to battle and do those little things solid.”

REGION I-5A QUARTERFINALS

GAME 1

ABILENE HIGH 7, WYLIE 0

	123	456	7	—	R	H	E
Wylie	000	000	0	—	0	2	2
Abilene High	000	070	x	—	7	8	0

Halli Russell, Avie Faries (5) and Cameron Gregory. Diana Silva, Avah Reyes (7) and Makayla Gutierrez. W — Silva. L — Russell. 2B — Wylie: Wynslow Miller; Abilene High: Kinzley Cantu.

Records — Wylie 28-9; Abilene High 24-13-1.