Lady Cats take game one of Bi-District series
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The Sulphur Springs Lady Cats hosted Whitehouse Wednesday night for the opening game of their best-of-three series in the Bi-District round of the playoffs. Sulphur Springs entered the game ranked No. 7 in the state with a record of 21-1-2. The Lady Cats enter the postseason looking to build off their historic run from a year ago, in which they made it all the way to the Regional Semifinals.
Crimson Bryant was the starting pitcher for Sulphur Springs and wasted no time finding her rhythm. After waking the leadoff hitter Bryant retired the next 12 batters she faced, 11 of which came via the strikeout.
The Lady Cats had no trouble making contact against Whitehouse’s Grace Ann McDonald, but the Whitehouse defense did a great job behind her. The first hit of the day came in the bottom of the second, when Kinz Smallwood hit a two-out single on a grounder to short.
Sulphur Springs continued to make great contact in the third and fourth innings, although they were unable to get a base hit in either frame. It was Parris Pickett who opened things up in the bottom of the fifth, hitting a single on a line drive to center.
Smallwood followed with a single of her own, her second of the night, putting runners on first and second with no outs. Nicole Higgins followed with a hard hit ball up the middle, in which the second baseman was able to get a glove on it, but unable to record an out.
Up next was catcher Anahi Velasquez, who was up with the bases loaded and nobody out. Velasquez hit a hard ground ball down the third baseline, getting in to left field and bringing in Pickett and Smallwood. Two batters later it was Jadyn Harper who sent a double to left, bringing in Higgins to extend the Lady Cats’ lead to 3-0.
Working with a 3-run lead, Bryant went back out for the top of the sixth, needing just six more outs to secure the game one victory. Whitehouse was able to get a bit of momentum going, drawing a leadoff walk and a one-out single to put runners on first and second. Bryant answered back with a pop out and a strikeout, getting out of the frame with the shutout still intact.
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The Lady Cats failed to get anything going in the bottom of the frame and went into the top of the seventh with Whitehouse down to their final three outs. Bryant looked as strong as ever, getting each of the first two batters to strikeout. Down to the final out of the game Bryant quickly got ahead in the count 0-2. After a ball and a pair of foul balls, Bryant got her final out of the night on a swinging strikeout, sending Sulphur Springs home with a 3-0 win.
In her complete game shutout Bryant allowed just one hit, which came in the top of the sixth on a bunt single. She walked just three batters and struck out an impressive 16 batters.
Offensively the team was led by Smallwood who had the only multi-hit game for either team. Smallwood went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and one run scored.
Velasquez led the team with two runs batted in, as she came through with a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to get the Lady Cats on the board first. Harper was 1-for-3 with one rbi, while Pickett was 1-for-3 with one run scored. Bryant also had one hit, while Higgins had one run scored.
The 3-0 win puts Sulphur Springs ahead in the series 1-0. The Lady Cats will look to put the series away Friday night, with a 6:30 start time in Whitehouse. Game three, if necessary, will be Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in Sulphur Springs.
Coverage of the Lady Cats’ postseason run will be provided on Front Porch News. For fans who cannot make the games, live broadcasts will be available on the Chad’s Media Youtube channel.
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