TRAVIS—Making their first post season appearance in four years, the Rockdale Lady Tigers hope that despite Thursday night’s outcome, it will be the beginning of a long and prosperous foray into the playoffs.
The Lady Tigers could not overcome a nightmarish first inning in suffering a 6-0 loss to Troy in the Class 3A, Region III bi-district round of the state softball playoffs at Rosebud-Lott High School in a one-game playoff.
Rockdale—which has not posted a playoff victory since 2013—finishes the season 15-12-1 after a fourth place finish in District 20-3A.
Troy—playing in the area round for the first time since 2009—moves on to face Blooming Grove.
“I’m really proud of the hard work and progress the team has made this year,” said Rockdale Coach Erin Palmer. “We set a goal at the beginning of the season to make playoffs and we did. This allows our goal next season to be bigger, and pushes us to reach further.
“We were all disappointed with the outcome of the game, but the girls stayed in it until the very end, and gave everything they had in pursuit of a win.”
Three costly errors in the first inning haunted the Lady Tigers as the Trojanettes used the miscues to produce three runs, which were enough to secure the win.
Troy—25-7 and the champions of District 19-3A—has just two earned runs as Rockdale committed four errors on the evening.
The Trojanettes added a run in the second inning on a triple by Kacey Rose and then two more in the fifth on a single from Alyssa Russell and double by Marley Hilton to make it 6-0.
The Lady Tigers ran into a formidable hurler in Hilton as the fireballer struck out 10 batters including six of the first eight batters she faced.
Rockdale certainly had opportunities to push some runs across, but stranded seven runners on the evening. The Lady Tigers hit just two balls out of the infield and had just one runner reach third base.
Rockdale’s biggest threats came in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings when it put two runners on base in each frame, but could not get them home. A double play ended any hope in the fifth.
Montelongo, Karley Leopold, Cailey Knighton, Emily Depine and Salazar all had singles for the Lady Tigers.
Performing for the last time in a Rockdale uniform, Knighton (10-2) fanned eight batters and surrendered just two earned runs.
The righthander allowed just two hits in the final 4 2/3 innings. She walked just two batters.
Knighton—the Lady Tigers’ lone senior—leaves as the school’s all -time leader in strikeouts with 429 and is third on the all-time list with 35 wins.
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