AUSTIN — Less than 24 hours after surviving an 11-inning state semifinal with Whitesboro that took every ounce of energy his team could muster, Coahoma coach Alex Orosco had a two-fold challenge on his hands.

Not only did his Bulldogettes have to recover quickly to play for the Class 3A state championship on Thursday, but a difficult Grandview team was standing in the way of CHS winning a second straight title. 

Somehow, someway, Coahoma met both challenges — finding the energy in sweltering Austin heat to defend its championship with a 3-2 win over the Lady Zebras in eight innings. 

Brynn Rodgers was 2 for 4 with an RBI double to drive home Abi Rose for the game-winning run, and Hannah Wells tossed a six-hitter through eight innings to lift the Bulldogettes, who finished their season with a perfect 32-0 mark. 

AUSTIN — As courtesy runner Emery Doporto rounded third to score the game-winning run, she was closing the books on one of the most memorable, heart-stopping, exhausting softball games for anyone who participated in it. 

For 11 innings and more than 3½ hours, unbeaten defending Class 3A state champion Coahoma fought to overcome a shocking upset bid by Whitesboro, finally putting away the Lady Cats 10-9 at McCombs Field. 

Mia Clemmer drove in Doporto with a two-out single in the bottom of the 11th to lift the Bulldogettes (31-0), who advance to face Grandview (32-3) for the 3A state title at 1 p.m. Thursday. 

Hannah Wells was 5 of 6 with a homer and three RBIs and Addi Hart was 3 of 5 with two RBIs to pace Coahoma, which trailed 4-1, 5-2, 8-4 and 9-8 before finally getting in the last word. 

Most Coahoma softball players only know what it’s like to end their season at the state tournament.

But not four-year varsity stalwarts Karleigh Burt and Brynn Rodgers. They were freshmen when the Bulldogettes lost in the third round of the 2021 playoffs to Jacksboro.

Knowing a trip to Austin wasn’t guaranteed, Burt and Rodgers have worked hard to ensure their senior season ended where they last two have. That’s exactly what’s happened as Coahoma (30-0) will face Whitesboro (32-7) at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Class 3A semifinals.

GRAHAM – Coahoma is headed back to Austin to defend its Class 3A title.

The Bulldogettes sucked all the drama out of the Region I-3A final with a 12-run second inning in Saturday’s winner-take-all matchup.

Coahoma is headed to the Class 3A state tournament after cruising past the Lady Hawks 12-1 in five innings. The Bulldogettes will play Whitesboro at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the semifinals.

Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.

Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Coahoma-Henrietta regional quarterfinal softball game (55 images)” →

ABILENE — For the third round in a row, the Coahoma softball team faced a do-or-die postseason situation as the Bulldogettes had another single-game playoff on Thursday evening at Abilene Christian University’s Poly Wells Field.

Coach Alex Orosco’s message to his team, as it has been before all 27 games this year, was to weather the storm early knowing they’d get Henrietta’s best punch and then to wear down the Lady Cats in the later stages.

Coahoma did just that and unleashed an offensive onslaught in the fifth and sixth innings on its way to a 7-0 win in the Region I-3A quarterfinals.

CLYDE — Two innings into its one-game Region I-3A area-round playoff with Holliday on Friday at the Hanner Sports Complex, the top-ranked and defending state champion Coahoma softball team found itself in unfamiliar territory. The undefeated Bulldogettes were trailing on the scoreboard.

But down 1-0 heading to the bottom of the third, CHS righted the ship in a major way, putting three runners on in front of Brynn Rodgers, who blasted the second pitch she saw over the fence in center for a grand slam that turned the tide in what would eventually be a 9-3 win for CHS.

Rodgers’ blast, the senior’s first of two home runs in the game, staked the Bulldogettes to a 4-1 lead when play was stopped by lightning in the bottom of the fourth inning. And when the game was finally resumed more than three hours later, Rodgers added a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth to build a 6-1 lead that proved a far larger cushion than needed with ace Hannah Wells in the circle.