Lady Dog softball was outmatched in Wednesday’s area round showdown at Texas A&M’s Davis Diamond, where they fell 10-7 to Bremond, a team they’d defeated twice during their District 27-2A schedule.
“The bottom line is that they outplayed us,” said coach Lance Betak.
BHS started off hot, as sisters Braydi and Kailey Wilganowski began the game with a double and a single. This led to Braydi scoring on a Zoey Pruitt sacrifice fly.
Thorndale took a while to match that energy at the plate, hitting four deep fly balls in their first eight at-bats.
After the opposing team scored two more runs in the top of the third, the Lady Dogs answered back with three runs of their own, scoring on a Natalie Garcia bunt, a Kelsey Kovar triple and a Raeghan Carlson sacrifice fly.
Thorndale’s surge continued in the fourth to make it 7-3 with hits from Bailee Baker, Emilee Baker, Kovar and Carlson. They kept their momentum after stopping the Lady Tigers’ middle of the order with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth.
However, that momentum shifted in Bremond’s favor with KyLee Pierce having a three-up, three-down inning in the fifth and in the top of the sixth Pruitt hit a grand slam, giving BHS a 10-7 lead.
This ended up being the final score as Pierce retired the next six batters out in the final two innings.
“We were still ahead 7-6 when they hit the grand slam,” Betak said. “That is just one player coming up big in a big moment.”
“All credit goes to Bremond,” he said. “I don’t feel like we underestimated them, we knew they were getting better every time we played them.”
The Lady Dogs beat Bremond 14-4 in their first matchup on March 19, at home and 7-1 at BHS on April 12.
Betak at the time said Bremond had improved a lot.
Pitcher Dori Ginn struck out two.
Kovar led at the plate with three hits. Carlson, Emilee Baker, Bailee Baker, Reagyn Trahan each had one hit.
SEASON—Thorndale ends their 2021 campaign with a 23-9 record after starting their season with a 0-6 record.
Averaging close to 18 runs per game during their district title run, THS dominated on offense, scoring a total of 397 runs and hitting a combined 35 home runs.
“I am extremely proud of this group because of how close they became, even after how rough of a start they had to this season,” Betak said. “It’s funny how expectations change.”
“After our 0-6 start, I didn’t know if they would make it to the playoffs,” he said. “Then we got beat in the third round and it was such a disappointment because we thought we could do better.”
THS had no seniors this year and has only three juniors on the roster. The rest of their lineup is sophomores and freshmen.
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