What started off as a nail-biter between Thorndale and Bremond ended as a 15-5 victory for the Lady Dogs.
THS trailed 5-3 after the Lady Tigers scored five runs in the top of the third inning, but the fear of a loss mostly faded after a 10-run surge in the fifth with nine hits altogether from Bailee Baker, Emilee Baker, Natalie Garcia, Kelsey Kovar, Reagyn Trahan and Cassidy Eubanks.
Leading 13-5 in the bottom of the sixth, Thorndale closed out the game with two more runs to win on a run-rule.
Coach Lance Betak said the slow start wasn’t ideal, but that he didn’t doubt his team’s offense.
“I was a little bit nervous like always,” he said. “But I know we’re going to hit the ball.”
“We gave up a few outs early on and had a few bad swings but once we got our timing and saw (the pitcher) for the second, third and fourth time, everybody got a little bit better every at-bat and we had a couple of walks. We finally got our bunt game going as well, which is big because we’ve been struggling at that.”
Betak reminded his team that although they built a nice lead, never get to0 comfortable.
“I told them to make sure that no matter what the score is...we have to build on that lead, because you never know.”
Garcia and E. Baker led THS at the plate with three hits while Kovar had five runs batted in.
Sophomore Dori Ginn led from the circle with three strikeouts.
THIS WEEK—The Lady Dogs faced Holland Tuesday after press time and host Granger this Friday, the only other undefeated team in District 27-2A.
The Lady Lions are 5-0 in district and have runruled every opponent except Thrall so far including Bremond 14-4 in a game Betak described as a carbon copy of their game with BHS.
Granger as a team is also similar in style to Bremond with a dominant freshman pitcher Alexi Wade who also hits in the four spot and dominant hitters like Amayah Simien, who has had six hits in her last two games.
First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m., in Thorndale.
BULLDOGS—On Friday night, the young Bulldog baseball team also celebrated a win over Bremond at home after an error brought in Mason Lindig for a 9-8 victory.
“It’s a W, that’s about all you can ask for,” THS coach Kelly Kuhl said, laughing. “We kept competing, our kids never gave up and they executed.”
“We ask a guy to bunt, he bunts it and they make an error,” he said. “We got some big hits at the end and a freshman comes in throws well and keeps us in it. I mean, these kids keep competing.”
THS built an early lead 4-2 lead thanks to hits from Coy Stutts, Bryson Beran, Layton Mogford and Kaden Kovar but the Tigers went ahead in the fifth with three runs. The Bulldogs regained a 7-5 lead after taking advantage of errors.
Bremond took back the lead again with three runs in the top of the seventh before Thorndale won the game in the bottom half with singles from Lindig and Kovar. Lindig scored on a pass ball to win the game.
Stutts was Thorndale’s top performer at the plate going three-for-four while Logan Davis struck out seven in 4.2 innings pitched. Mogford also pitched 2.1 innings and struck out one.
Kuhl, who is in his 15th year as head coach, has a team without a single senior and only Davis had prior varsity experience going into the 2021 season.
THIS WEEK—T h e ‘Dawgs finished their series with BHS on the road Tuesday after press time and host Holland Saturday morning.
The game was moved from Friday due to the district UIL academic competition taking place that same day.
Junior varsity is scheduled for 10 a.m., and varsity starts at 12:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs are 3-0 in district as of press time and have an overall record of 10-7.
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