Lady Comanches earn state tournament berth
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Shiner Softball | Shiner Comanche Sports Home Page
The Lady Comanches powered through two tight games against the Weimar Lady Cats on Thursday [ June 28 ] and Saturday [ June 30, 2015 ] to sweep their Region IV-2A final series and earn their first trip to the state tournament since 2011.
CeCe Darilek, the winning pitcher of both games in the 2A Region 4 regional championship series, delivers the pitch.
[ NOTE: click on photo to enlarge ]all photos by Stephanie Kasper
Although Shiner had already beaten Weimar twice in their regular season district matchups, the Lady Cats were certainly not planning to go down easy this time around.
In the first game of the series in El Campo, the Lady Comanches took an 8-6 win.
Weimar popped out to a two run lead in their first two innings at bat.
Bethany Nevlud cut that lead in half with a solo homer in the bottom of the second. In her very next at-bat, Nevlud slammed another ball over the fence, this time for 3 runs.
Assistant Coach John Hoelter sends Hannah Nevlud on to second base for a double against Weimar.
[ NOTE: click on photo to enlarge ]
Another RBI from Kailey Williams gave the Lady Comanches a 5-2 lead by the end of the third, and they kept on adding to their lead with another 3-run homer from Kassidy Bishop in the fifth.
With an 8-2 lead heading into the sixth, it looked like the Lady Comanches had game one in the bag, but Weimar was not yet ready to give up the fight. The Lady Cats sent one run across the plate in the sixth and strung together a 3-run rally in the top of the seventh to cut the lead to two runs.
At the tail end of an incredible offensive game, Bethany Nevlud came into a tough spot to relieve starting pitcher CeCe Darilek and struck out 2 of the 4 batters she faced to seal the 8-6 win.
Bethany Nevlud hit 2 for 2 with 4 RBIs, Bishop went 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs, and Lauren Schuette added 2 hits in 3 at-bats.
After this thrilling win, the Lady Comanches traveled to Seguin on Saturday for their fourth and final match-up of the season with their district rivals, taking a 6-5 decision.
This time it was Shiner who hit their way to an early lead with 2 runs in the first inning. They extended to a 6-2 lead by the end of the fifth.
At the beginning of the sixth inning, the storms came rolling into Texas Lutheran’s stadium and the game was suspended for a two hour lightning and rain delay.
Weimar came back from the rain delay firing and quickly narrowed the gap to 6-4 with a 2-run homer in the sixth.
Pinch runner Ally Chumchal takes a ball to the helmet as she slides in to score a run against Weimar on Saturday.
[ NOTE: click on photo to enlarge ]
The Lady Cats squeezed in another run in the bottom of the seventh and managed to get the tying run to second base before the Shiner defense shut them down and secured their victory.
Darilek pitched a compete game for the Lady Comanches, striking out 3 and holding Weimar to just 5 hits.
Darilek, Schuette, and Tamara Hajek each contributed 2 hits a piece, Bethany Nevlud fired away for another great game at the plate, going 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs, and Bishop powered yet another ball out of the stadium, her second homer of the series.
The Lady Comanches (29-5-1) will take on the Hawley Bearcats (29-2) in the 2A state semifinal game at 12 p.m. on Wednesday at the Red and Charline McCombs Field at UT-Austin. If they win, they will earn a spot in the state championship game at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
FIRST TIME EVER?
It’s not official but Lady Comanche Mackinly Pilat and mother Kristie Smith may be the first mother/daughter to ever play in the state softball tournament. Kristie played in the state tournament back in 1996. Mackinly is a sophomore center fielder for the Lady Comanches. Shiner will be making its 10th appearance in the state tournament and the first since 2011.
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