Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through March 27:
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.
The Abilene High and Cooper softball teams both picked up lopsided victories in District 4-5A action Tuesday, as the Lady Eagles cruised to an 8-0 home win over Wichita Falls Legacy and the Lady Cougars rolled to an 11-4 triumph at Wichita Falls Memorial.
Junior pitcher Avah Reyes tallied nine strikeouts in three perfect innings to eclipse the 300 career strikeout milestone for AHS, while Maddie Fry earned a complete-game win for Cooper. Both pitchers got plenty of run support, as the Lady Eagles outhit Legacy 10-2 and the Lady Coogs used a couple of big innings to post their second double-digit scoring output in three league games.
With Tuesday’s result, Abilene High (11-7) improved to 3-0 in 4-5A play, maintaining a one-game edge on Cooper (12-9, 2-1), which moved a half-game ahead of idle Wylie (13-6, 1-1) for second place.
Clyde softball has been overdue for landing a Big Country Preps Player of the Week award and senior pitcher Kaycee Bingham has just ended the drought.
The Lady Bulldogs have been posting big numbers on a weekly basis, falling just short of the top spot. But Bingham has landed the spotlight with a 26-0 mercy rule perfect game win over San Angelo Grape Creek last week. She followed that with a three-hit 11-0 shutout of Merkel.
Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Clyde hurler takes this week’s award”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Abilene High-Cooper softball (76 images)”
Abilene High junior Avah Reyes had 15 strikeouts and took a no-hitter into the seventh inning as the Lady Eagles claimed a 4-3 win over Cooper in District 4-5A play on Saturday afternoon.
Cooper rallied in the seventh inning behind two AHS errors and had the tying run in scoring position when Reyes struck out Sabrina Lopez-Calhoon swinging to end the game.
The showdown was the first time that AHS coach Jenna Aguirre faced off against Cooper coach Kaegan Jimenez. The two were best friends in high school, making the win bittersweet for the fourth-year AHS coach.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through March 20:
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: Cooper-Wylie softball (46 images)”
After watching her team complete a rigorous nondistrict schedule with a 10-8 record, first-year Cooper softball coach Kaegan Jimenez felt her Lady Cougars were ready for the start of District 4-5A play.
On Tuesday, they proved as much, using a seven-run fifth inning to turn a 5-2 deficit after four frames into an 11-8 road win over crosstown rival and regional stalwart Wylie.
With the victory, CHS — which posted a combined district record of 7-27 from 2022 to 2024 — is now tied atop the 4-5A standings with Abilene High, which routed Wichita Falls Memorial 13-0 in the league’s other opener Tuesday.
Coming off a 3-1 win over Class 6A No. 6 Midland High on Thursday to close out its nondistrict schedule, the Abilene High softball team kept the positive momentum going Tuesday, opening District 4-5A play with a resounding 13-0 home victory over Wichita Falls Memorial.
The Lady Eagles, who dropped five of six games from Feb. 25 to March 1, have now won three straight — a streak that started March 4 with a 12-0 run-rule win over San Angelo Central.
AHS’ latest win, which was never in doubt as the Lady Eagles scored at least two runs in every inning and got a one-hit shutout from Avah Reyes, improved coach Jenna Aguirre’s squad to 9-7 on the year and placed the Lady Eagles atop the 4-5A standings with crosstown rival Cooper, which downed Wylie 11-8 in its district opener.
At the Class 1A level, where it is common for athletes to participate in multiple sports at the same time due to a lack of numbers, individuals who excel in different disciplines are invaluable.
At Gordon, junior multi-sport star Stryker Reed falls into this category, and our Big Country Preps Player of the Week is now demonstrating it on the heels of an amazing effort.
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: Bangs-Cisco softball (30 images)”
CISCO — The District 7-2A softball race started in a big way on Tuesday, with Bangs and Cisco (both projected to challenge for the league title) going head-to-head in the league opener for both clubs.
Battling through windy, dusty conditions, Cisco did the better job of adjusting to the elements and came away with a 10-6 win at CHS.
Aubrey Corpus was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Cara Arnold was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles to lead Cisco (10-4, 1-0), which blew the game open with a five-run third inning.
Fresh off a successful basketball season, Eula’s Hailie Cauthen has transitioned to softball as though she were in mid-season form.
In fact, the senior shortstop was good enough through five games last week to take our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award for the Week ending March 8.
While Stephenville’s Tristian Gentry is no stranger to this column, it’s usually via football that he lands in our Top 10 — especially after missing track last year due to injury.
Well, it’s track season again and it just so happens that the SHS senior is healthy this time around — returning as one of the area’s top guns in that sport. He’s already off to a great start, having captured four gold medals at a talent-loaded Brock meet last week.
Aside from first place leaps in the long jump (21-1) and triple jump (43-2), he also helped SHS’ 400 and 800 relay teams take gold with splits of 43.26 and 1:30.1, respectively.
Munday’s Caisen Lee isn’t the first freshman to whom we’ve given our Big Country Preps Player of the Week Award. But during the basketball playoffs, it is indeed a rare occurrence.
Nonetheless, Lee takes our top spot with a pair of top notch efforts in playoff wins over Aspermont (77-48) and Westbrook (48-36).
For two years, Stamford’s Emma Follis has been one of our area’s elite softball players, both as a pitcher and a hitter.
Last week, Follis picked up right where she left off a year ago, notching a 3-1 record in the circle with 35 strikeouts at the Slaton Tournament.
She was even better at the plate, hitting .714 with a triple, four homers and nine RBIs.
At this rate her numbers could be staggering by season’s end. And keep in mind, many of these games were shortened to accommodate the tournament schedule.
In several shortened games Emma came out hot in the circle and at the plate,” coach Sean Slavis said. “We are pumped to finally be playing again!”
After recognizing the top pitchers, catchers, infielders and outfielders that the Big Country softball scene has to offer, we close our position rankings series with a celebration of versatility.
For the final installment in our five-part series, we take a look at the top utility players, ranking our top-10 multi-position standouts to watch in 2025.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through these lists and encourage you to come back next week when we’ll feature the top baseball players in the Big Country.
After spending the first three days of our softball position rankings series in the dirt, we move the grass for Day 4.
For the penultimate installment of our five-part series, we take a look at the top outfielders in the Big Country, ranking our top 10 with others to watch in 2025.
We hope you enjoy our list.
After highlighting the top pitchers and catchers on the Big Country softball scene the past two nights, it’s time to turn our spotlight to the field.
For the third installment in our five-part position rankings series, we list our top-10 infielders in the area for the 2025 season.
We hope you enjoy reading through our rankings.
After kicking off our softball position rankings series on Wednesday with the pitchers, we now shift our attention to their battery mates.
For the second installment in our five-part series, we rank the area’s top 10 catchers with others to watch for in 2025.
We hope you enjoy our list.
With the softball season beginning this week, it’s time to take a look at the players who will be making the biggest impact throughout the Big Country Preps coverage area in 2025.
For the first installment in a five-part series that will cover all position groups on the area softball scene, we’ll be taking a look at the Big Country’s top pitchers, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this spring.
We hope you enjoy reading through our list.
Coming off a huge senior season as a rare two-way player for Cooper, Zavian Alexander announced Wednesday afternoon that he’ll be taking his talents to Central Texas for the next stage of his football journey.
Joined by CHS softballers Maddie Fry (Hardin-Simmons University) and Emma Ruiz (Nelson University) at a Signing Day ceremony at Cougar Gym, Alexander made his college decision official by confirming his commitment to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Alexander’s pledge to the Division III national power in Belton comes after putting up the second-most productive season ever by a Cooper receiver on his way to earning first-team all-District 2-5A Division II and second-team All-Big Country Preps recognition.
National Signing Day is typically a busy one in the Big Country Preps’ coverage area and 2025 was no exception with several players inking and/or confirming their commitments to play at the next level.
At various signing ceremonies held throughout the area, athletes celebrated their final choices to pursue a degree while competing collegiately.
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country girls basketball through Jan. 23.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the regular season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Is your favorite team missing? If so, please pass along a friendly reminder to your coach to check his or her email for our weekly stats request. We’ll be happy to add them to our database after they arrive.
The fall national signing period opened Wednesday, and a number of athletes throughout the Big Country Preps coverage area either made their college decisions official at signing day ceremonies or have announced plans to do so in the near future.
Here’s a list of those area seniors and where they’ll be competing next season:
Here are our superlative award winners for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps softball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our second-team selections for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps softball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to release our 2024 All-Big Country Preps Softball teams.
Here, you will find our Rising Stars Team honoring the top freshmen and sophomores in the Big Country.
For the rest of this year’s softball selections, please click the links below.
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.
AUSTIN — The comeback kids finally fell short. But not before putting nearly everyone at McCombs Field on the edge of their seats.
Power-hitting Forsan, with its penchant blasting its way out of trouble, saw its season come to a close on Tuesday in a 4-3 loss to Beckville in a Class 2A softball state semifinal.
Bethany Grandgeorge was 2 for 3 with two doubles and earned the pitching win, while Gracey Struwe and Bailey Quinn were both 1 for 3 with two RBIs to lead Beckville (32-6-2), which advances to face either Crawford (29-6) or Shiner (31-3) for the Class 2A state title at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
Forsan (30-8-1), which had chopped a 4-0 deficit to 4-3, saw its rally end when Grandgeorge tossed a scoreless seventh inning while facing the top of the FHS order.
AUSTIN — A few missed opportunities, a few mistakes and one difficult pitcher was enough to close the books on another successful season by the Hermleigh softball team.
Squaring off with Neches in a Class 1A state semifinal at McCombs Field on Tuesday, the Lady Cardinals were left with a number of reasons they fell 7-2.
Neches pitcher Jessi Sumpter was at the top of that list after throwing a complete game three-hitter with 14 strikeouts.
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.
LAMESA — Facing a must-win situation in Game 2 of their Region I-2A championship series with Forsan, the Anson Lady Tigers showed up ready to play on Wednesday in Lamesa, with a raucous crowd behind them.
They even rallied from an early 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 lead in the third inning.
Forsan, however, had an answer in an overpowering offensive display that featured 11 hits and two homers in a 10-3 win that clinched the first state berth for the Lady Buffaloes in 14 years.
K’dynce Speck was 3 for 4 with a double, homer and four RBIs and Maddie Roach was 2 for 4 with a homer and a win in the pitching circle to lead Forsan (30-7-1) which opens play at the state tournament at Red and Charline McCombs Field on Tuesday.
This will be the first trip to state for Forsan since the Lady Buffs claimed back-to-back Class 1A state titles in 2009 and 2010. Anson closed its season at 21-13, just one step away from reaching the first state tournament in program history.
LAMESA —When one thinks of a perfect game in high school softball, its generally a safe bet that it will come with a lofty strikeout count to take pressure off the defense.
But in the case of Forsan’s Bree Tubb, the sophomore delivered the ultimate rarity in Tuesday’s 8-0 win over Anson in Game 1 of the Region I-2A title series. Rather than dominating the Lady Tigers, Tubb pitched to contact, delivering 21 straight outs with only five strikeouts and error-free defense behind her.
The Lady Buffaloes (29-7-1) can close the series and earn a berth to the state tournament with a win in Game 2, at 5 p.m. on Wednesday in Lamesa. Game 3, if needed, with take place on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the same location. Anson fell to 21-12 with the loss.
Forsan was led offensively by K’Leigh Williams, who was 3-for-4 with a double, two homers and three RBIs.
STEPHENVILLE — The Abilene High softball program’s longest playoff run since 2003 came to a close Saturday, ending with a 7-1 loss to Burleson Centennial at Tarleton State University’s Tarleton Softball Complex.
The Game 2 defeat, which followed a 13-2 loss in Friday’s series opener, ended the Lady Eagles’ season at 25-15-1, capping the state’s second-longest playoff run this season by a fourth-seeded team.
While Saturday’s game, which was within reach until the Spartans scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to extend a three-run lead to seven, didn’t end the way the Lady Eagles had hoped it would, coach Jenna Aguirre said the push to the Region I-5A semifinals set a new standard for her program.
In a series full of wild momentum swings, it was the Forsan softball team that landed the decisive one against Haskell on Saturday at Abilene Christian University’s Poly Wells Field.
The Lady Buffs jumped out to a 7-0 lead through the first two innings of Game 3 and held on for a 10-6 win and a date with Anson in the regional final next week.
After rallying from a six-run deficit to win Game 1 on Thursday, Forsan saw Haskell start fast on Friday as the Maidens took Game 2.
Saturday’s series finale marked the first time all week that the Lady Buffs jumped out to an early lead and they made the most of it.
ABILENE — Less than a day removed from coughing up five errors and blowing a 7-1 lead, the Haskell Maidens found redemption at Abilene Christian University on Friday.
Trailing Forsan 1-0 in a best-of-three slate following a disastrous 15-7 loss on Thursday, Haskell produced a well-played, well-pitched 12-3 win at Poly Wells Field on Friday to knot the series at a game apiece.
Harley Medford was 3 for 4 with two doubles, a triple and five RBIs to lead Haskell (22-5), which snapped a 19-game Forsan winning streak with the victory.
Looking at the Abilene High softball team’s run totals, it would be easy to assume that the Lady Eagles have a lineup full of mashers. In the playoffs alone, AHS has averaged almost six runs per game — a hefty number behind a pair of standout pitchers in Diana Silva and Avah Reyes.
But coach Jenna Aguirre’s team doesn’t achieve those results the way one might think.
Doing more running that slugging, the Lady Eagles are playing big-inning softball using small ball. And in the process, they’re proving the age old idiom — speed kills.
ABILENE — Three innings into Game 1 of a Region I-2A semifinal on Thursday, everything was going Haskell’s way.
The Maidens were leading Forsan 7-1, they had outhit the Lady Buffs 8-3, they had all the momentum and it was beginning to look like a possible mercy rule victory for HHS.
Then it happened: An overwhelming display of power on the part of Forsan resulting in 14 unanswered runs over the final four innings, giving the Lady Buffs a stunning 15-7 come-from-behind win at Abilene Christian University.
K’leigh Williams was 3 for 5 with a double, a homer and four RBIs to lift Forsan (27-6-1), which can end the best-of-three series with a win in Game 2 at noon on Friday at ACU. Game 3, if needed, will take place at 4 p.m. on Saturday at the same location.
Haskell (21-5), was led by sophomore Paige Sheets, who was 2-for-3 with a triple and four RBIs.
Both of this week’s Region 1-2A semifinal softball matchups will have a measure of, “Hey, wait a minute!” potential, especially if/when fans look into the third base coach’s boxes when the games’ announcers introduce the principal figures.
When Forsan and Anson take the field for their series against Haskell and Floydada, respectively, their head softball coaches will be leading a second team from their schools to the playoffs during the current school year. That’s what happens when the successful head softball coach is also the school’s successful head football coach.
And, even though Forsan’s Jason Phillips and Anson’s Cory McCombs took different paths to become two-sport mentors, they both are hoping for the same thing at the end of the week: a chance to face each other in next week’s region final series, the winner of which will be headed to the state tournament.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
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)”