The only thing that lies between the Thorndale Lady Bulldog softball team and a trip to the UIL Class 3A softball state tournament is the Weimar Lady Cats.
“They are going to be solid in all facets of the game,” said Lance Betak, Thorndale High School head softball coach. “They will probably bunt more than anybody we’ve played all season and that is something we are focusing on this week in practice.”
The Lady Cats are 19-13 on the season but have been on a roll in the postseason with run-rule wins over Thrall and Evadale. Weimar was ranked third in Class 2A by the Texas Girls High School Coaches Association at the time of their contest. The team is coming off of a sweep in the regional semi-finals over Charlotte 15-4, and 18-3 this past weekend.
“Weimar will be fundamentally sound and won’t beat themselves,” Betak said. “But I think our pitching is really good right now and we’re on a huge roll. I think we just need to do what we’ve been doing and that’s pitching well, playing great defense and hitting the ball up and down the lineup.”
THS and Weimar will open their series on Thursday at 7p.m. Game two will be played on Friday at 6 and if necessary, a deciding game three will be played following the conclusion of game two.
JOURDANTON—The Lady Bulldogs swept Riviera-Kaufer in the Region IV semi-finals this past weekend in Jourdanton, run-ruling the Lady Sea-hawks 11-1 in the first game and winning 10-3 over KHS in the second game.
In the first game, Thorn-dale got up 8-0 after four innings and although Kaufer got on the scoreboard in the fifth THS added three more to run-rule them after six innings. Kelsey Kovar, Jacey Paulsen, Emilee Baker and Jayci Martinka led the Lady Bulldogs at the plate with two hits apiece and Riley White and Madison Kelm each had one. White pitched a one-hitter with 15 strikeouts.
In game two, Thorndale built another early lead when Kelsey Kovar hit a solo home run in the first inning. They followed with another run later in the inning and were up 10-2 after five. The Lady Sea-hawks scored once more in the sixth, but Thorndale held them off in the final inning to take the series and advance to the Region IV finals. Kovar led Thorn-dale going three-for-four and Kelm and Paulsen each had two hits. Baker, Martinka, White and Maddie Flores all had one hit. White led from the circle with eight strikeouts.
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