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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Hermleigh-Baird softball area-round playoff (48 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Bangs-Forsan softball area-round playoff (30 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Anson-Colorado City softball area-round playoff (25 images)”
ABILENE — The Wall Lady Hawks showed up to Wylie’s Bulldog Field on Saturday expecting to have a long day of softball after dropping the opening game of their best-of-three Region I-3A Division II area-round series with Jacksboro 17-6 on Friday night.
Nobody expected the Lady Hawks and Tigerettes to wind up playing 18 innings in one day.
Wall took a 6-5 win in 11 innings in Game 2 before Jacksboro rebounded with a 10-5 win to clinch the series and earn a date with Muleshoe next week.
SAN ANGELO — A fast start and steady pitching lifted the Bangs Lady Dragons to a 13-2 mercy rule win over Forsan to sweep their Region I-2A DI area round series on Saturday at the SAS Softball Complex.
Abby Wolf went the distance in the circle and was 3 of 4 with four RBIs while Neeley Bradley was 3-of-4 with two homers and four RBIs to lead Bangs (24-7) which pounded out a 9-0 lead in the first three innings and never looked back.
The Lady Dragons now advance to face Clarendon in the Region I semifinals; Forsan, which hurt itself with four errors, closed its season at 13-12, led by Ari Mealing who was 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.
HERMLEIGH — One of the biggest challenges in any sport is to lose a big lead along with the momentum, only to recapture both and win the game.
The Colorado City softball team managed to pull this off on Friday to capture a Region I-2A DI area title with a 13-7 win over Anson in nine innings at Lady Cardinal Field.
Southpaw Mia Obenhaus went the distance in the circle and was 3-of-5 with two doubles and four RBIs to lead Colorado City (24-7), which advances to face sixth-ranked Floydada (29-6) in the regional semifinals next week.
Leading 6-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth, and 7-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Lady Wolves absorbed a seven-run Anson rally over the final three frames to send the contest into extra innings. There, Colorado City turned on a dime with a six-run outburst in the ninth to get the win and a 2-0 series sweep.
CLYDE — After throwing a pair of no-hitters in a bi-district sweep of Ira, Hermleigh freshman Peyton Miller dominated in the circle again on Friday night as the Lady Cardinals shut out Baird 11-0 in a one-game Region I-1A area-round playoff at the Hanner Sports Complex.
Miller struck out eight and walked two in a complete-game effort.
After the performance, Hermleigh coach Sammy Winters said that Miller has the potential to be one of the next star pitchers to come out of the Big Country.
If one is to play the role of hero, there’s not a better time to do it than in postseason play in your senior year.
Brock’s Mylee Cedillo lived that experience — not once, but twice in last week’s uber-intense bi-district series with fifth-ranked Levelland that saw the Lady Eagles edge the Loboettes 2-1 and 7-6 in 13 innings.
It all began Friday night in Game 1, with Levelland pitcher Aubrey Rivas carrying a no-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning. Cedillo responded to the pressure with an RBI double to drive home both Lily Springstead (who walked) and courtesy runner Emily Faddis (running for Ali Coleman who reached on an error) to give Brock a 2-1 win.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Bangs-Hawley softball bi-district playoff (122 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Brock-Levelland softball bi-district playoff (40 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Stephenville-Big Spring softball bi-district playoff (30 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Anson-Cisco softball bi-district playoff (70 images)”
ABILENE — Less than 24 hours after Bangs opened its Region I-2A Division I bi-district series against Hawley with a decisive 17-7 victory, the Lady Dragons and Lady Cats treated those who returned to the Abilene Christian University campus for the end of the best-of-three affair to a couple of classics Saturday afternoon at Poly Wells Field.
Facing elimination after Friday’s run-rule loss, Hawley answered a two-run Bangs top of the seventh with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning to walk-off with a 7-6 win in Game 2, before BHS rallied from a 6-4 deficit in the fifth inning to earn a series-clinching 8-7 win in Game 3.
As a result of those outcomes — and 14 nail-biting innings for the fans of both teams — the Lady Dragons (22-7) earned a trip to the area round to take on District 5-2A champion Forsan next week, while Hawley saw its season end in heartbreak at 14-15.
EULA — To get past a difficult Levelland team in their Class 4A DII bi-district series, the Brock Lady Eagles had very little margin for error. In fact, through Friday’s 2-1 win in Game 1 and Saturday’s 7-6 win in 13 innings, Brock played error-free softball to advance to the area round.
Twenty full innings without a single miscue.
Mylee Cedillo was 6 of 7 with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored (including the 13th inning game-winner) while freshman phenom Ali Coleman went the distance in the circle to lead the top-ranked and still-unbeaten Lady Eagles (27-0-2), who will face Burkburnett in the area round next Friday and Saturday in Graham.
Levelland closed its season at 28-6-1, led by Saydi Mendez, who was 6 of 7 with a triple and two RBIs.
“We had to play that way to win,” said Brock coach Greg Connors of his team’s fielding perfection — knowing full well that fifth-ranked Levelland would be a handful.
CLYDE — Paige Sheets was dominant in the circle and her teammates gave her plenty of run support, scoring early and often as the Haskell Maidens opened the Region I-2A Division II playoffs with a 12-0 run-rule victory over Ballinger on Friday at the Hanner Sports Complex.
Sheets struck out 10 in a five-inning shutout, limiting the Lady Cats to just three hits, while she and her teammates roughed up Ballinger for 12 hits, including a pair of doubles and two home runs.
The end result was a thorough victory that pushes the Maidens into next week’s area round, where they will face off with Reagan County, which easily dispatched of Eldorado in its bi-district playoff.
Emma Damron finished a double shy of hitting for the cycle and had a walk-off three-run inside-the-park home run as Eula finished off a two-game sweep of Hamlin with a 15-4 win at ACU’s Poly Wells Field on Friday night.
Damron tripled in the first inning and had an RBI single in the fourth before ending the game in the fifth inning.
She also earned the praise of coach Jayton Thompson for the work she did behind the plate, catching Macy Flatt, who made her first career postseason start in Eula’s 22-3 win in the series opener.
ABILENE — It took more than five hours of combined play for Stephenville and Big Spring to settle their bi-district issue on Friday at Bulldog Field, with the Honey Bees taking consecutive wins to move into the area round.
Following a well-played, 6-3 Stephenville win in Game 1, the night cap saw a far sloppier performance by a pair of tired clubs, with the Honey Bees topping Big Spring 22-7 to lock up the series.
Stephenville (17-13-1) now advances to face either Springtown or Fort Worth Southwest at a site and time to be determined. Big Spring closed its season at 12-12.
“When you start this thing with the first pitch at 5:30 and it being 11 p.m. on the last out it makes for a long day,” Stephenville coach Chase Cleland said. “But that’s what doubleheaders in postseason are for — to see who can outlast the other one and try to play the cleanest ball you can play.”
EULA — The Anson Lady Tigers punched their ticket to the area round of the Region I-2A Division I softball playoffs Thursday night, advancing past a spirited Cisco squad with a doubleheader sweep at the Eula softball field.
After surging late to pull away for a 10-3 victory in Game 1, the Lady Tigers fought off a Lady Loboes rally in Thursday’s nightcap, following a four-run Cisco seventh with a three-run top of the eighth to clinch the series with a 9-6 extra-innings win in Game 2.
Those results earned coach Mistrie Vinson and her team at least one more week together, as they’ll gear up for a second-round meeting with Colorado City, which routed Ozona 20-0 in a one-game playoff Thursday.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 24:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his or her email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
Here are the final Big Country softball playoff pairings and results:
Continue reading “Big Country Softball Playoff Pairings, Results (Final)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Hawley vs. Hermleigh playoff warmup game (30 images)”
HERMLEIGH — For both teams, it was little more than a dress rehearsal for the upcoming playoffs. But by game’s end, Hermleigh gave the impression that it is again ready to do some damage in the 1A softball bracket after handing a 10-0 mercy rule loss to Class 2A Hawley in Tuesday’s playoff warmup game at Lady Cardinal Field.
Freshman Peyton Miller tossed a six-inning, three-hit shutout with six strikeouts while Hailey Minton and Brooklyn O’Quinn were both 1-for-2 with a combined three RBIs to lead Hermleigh (17-1), which took advantage of 12 walks, three passed balls, two wild pitches and an error to take control of the game.
At Big Country Preps, we pride ourselves on sharing the love as much as possible. But Wall senior Briggs Jones has been so spectacular of late, that he’s making that difficult.
Jones has not only taken our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for a second straight time, but for a third time this year and a fourth time in his athletic career.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Coahoma-Abilene High softball (75 images)”
The Coahoma softball team has been on a historic run since beating Bryan Rudder 5-0 on March 4, 2023.
Thursday night, the Bulldogettes etched their name in the history books with a 6-1 win over Abilene High at the AHS softball field — the 84th consecutive game they have gone without a loss.
Coahoma is 83-0-1 during the streak, with the lone tie coming earlier this year in a 2-2 decision in four innings in a tournament game against Lubbock High. With the record in hand, Coahoma coach Alex Orosco said that the team has been focused on doing things right daily and that allows for records to be broken.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 17:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his or her email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
With both the district championship and playoff seeding already locked up before the first pitch of Tuesday night’s softball matchup between the Abilene High and Wylie, neither team stood to gain or lose a whole lot from the game’s outcome.
But for those in attendance at the AHS softball field, it wasn’t hard to see how much the contest meant to both teams.
Less than three weeks after the Lady Eagles and Lady Bulldogs battled to a 1-0 AHS victory in the first of two matchups between the squads, the two teams put on another show Tuesday, with a two-run home run by Kinzley Cantu in the fifth inning serving as the difference in a 3-1 Abilene High win.
The best way to describe the area meet performance of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week (Wall’s Briggs Jones) is to simply let his coach, Craig Slaughter do the talking.
“He ran a blistering 10.41 to set a school record and win the 100 meters,” Slaughter said. “He broke his long jump record with a jump of 23-11.5. I only let him jump twice because he was running out of room in the pit and I need that dude cranked up this week.
“Then he destroyed his triple jump record with a jump of 48-7.25
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Clyde-Jim Ned Softball/Baseball (85 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Tolar-Eastland softball (30 images)”
The Abilene High and Cooper softball teams both came up with big wins Friday night, as the Lady Eagles clinched the outright District 4-5A championship with a 16-0 road rout of Wichita Falls Legacy and the Lady Cougars rallied at home for a 3-2 walk-off win over Wichita Falls Memorial on Senior Night.
AHS scored 10 first-inning runs in its victory, the Lady Eagles’ ninth in a row, while Cooper broke up a perfect game in the sixth before rallying from a run down in the home half of seventh to snap a two-game losing skid.
Friday’s results improved Abilene High to 15-7 overall and a perfect 7-0 in district play, while Cooper (14-12 on the year) moved to 4-3 in 4-5A action.
TUSCOLA — The Jim Ned softball team only managed two earned runs off Clyde pitcher Kaycee Bingham on Friday, but five errors by the Lady Bulldogs led to seven unearned runs as the Lady Indians picked up a 9-7 win in District 6-3A action.
The win was the fifth in a row for the Lady Indians and pushed Jim Ned to 8-2 over its past 10 games.
It also put the Lady Indians in position to claim the top seed in the Class 3A Division I postseason as they have a 1½-game lead over Sweetwater in the standings with two games to play.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 10:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his or her email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
Hosting rival Cooper with a chance to lock up at least a share of the District 4-5A championship, the Abilene High softball team took care of business Tuesday, using a five-run bottom of the third to break open the game on its way to a thorough 11-1 victory.
Junior ace Avah Reyes limited the Lady Cougars to a single run on two hits and a pair of walks, and her teammates gave her ample support, following the third-inning outburst with another five spot in the fifth to end the game early.
The victory — AHS’ eighth in a row — improved the Lady Eagles to 6-0 in district play, giving coach Jenna Aguirre’s squad (14-7 overall) an opportunity to lock up the outright 4-5A title on Friday, when they hit the road north for a matchup with last-place Wichita Falls Legacy.
EASTLAND — A combination of speed and power was on full display on Tuesday, as the Eastland Lady Mavericks handed visiting Tolar a 16-3 mercy rule loss at the Linda Morren Diamond Park Softball Field.
Eastland pounded out 13 total hits, including six doubles and two triples to put the game way. Much of that power was concentrated in an explosive 11-run third inning that turned a 5-2 EHS lead into a 16-2 runaway.
Jayci Majors was 2-for-3 with two triples and three RBIs and Adyson Carroll was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs to lead the Lady Mavs (15-8, 8-3) which maintained a half-game lead over Comanche for the No. 2 playoff seed with the win.
Tolar (13-11, 6-5) was led by Jorgia Reed, who was 2 for 2 with a double and Kaira Krause, who was 2 for 2 with an RBI.
Here are the standings for all softball districts involving Big Country schools (through April 7):
Continue reading “Big Country Softball Standings (through April 7)”
The Wylie softball team put up three runs in the top of the first inning, and starter Avie Faries made that hold up, limiting Cooper to a pair of fourth-inning runs in a 7-2 win for the Lady Bulldogs on Monday at Cougar Diamond.
In a game that was postponed from Friday due to inclement weather and soggy field conditions, WHS avenged an 11-8 home loss to the Lady Cougars on March 18, improving to 3-2 in the District 4-5A standings with the victory.
Faries, who couldn’t hold onto a 5-2 lead in that first matchup, had no such trouble Monday, taking the circle with a 3-0 edge and watching that advantage balloon to 7-0 before Cooper finally got on the board. The sophomore right-hander then overcame a two-run bottom of the fourth to finish the game, allowing six hits and two walks while striking out five.
While no-hitters are fairly common at the high school level, the bulk of them are of the five-inning variety — ending early while locking down a mercy rule win.
Going the full seven innings without allowing a hit, however, is much less common. And in the case of Cisco junior Case Williams, his seven-inning no-no in a 2-0 win over a good Coleman team last Tuesday secured our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the Week ending April 5.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 3:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his or her email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
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: AHS-Wylie softball (71 images)”
After being down for the count with some sort of illness for the past two days, Abilene High pitcher Avah Reyes took to the circle for a massive District 4-5A softball showdown against Wylie on Friday night at Bulldog Field.
With coach Jenna Aguirre thinking she might have to lift her star junior, Reyes gutted it out and matched Wylie’s Avie Faries pitch-for-pitch, allowing the Lady Eagles to take a 1-0 win to finish off a perfect first half of district play.
Maiya Badon scored the lone run of the game on a seventh-inning throwing error by Wylie catcher Cameron Gregory when pinch runner Claudia Ceballos stole second base with one out.