HUNTSVILLE — The Como-Pickton Lady Eagles began their Class 2A/ D2 State Semifinals series against the Shiner Lady Comanches this week at Huntsville High School. In the first game, the Lady Eagles suffered a blowout loss, but Como-Pickton rebounded the following day with a close win in the second game.
GAME 1 SHINER 13 COMO-PICKTON 1
The Lady Eagles stepped up to the plate first. They were retired in order to start the game: Ayla Oud hit a fly ball for an out, Presley Hunt struck out and Graci Adair grounded out.
The Lady Comanches came to the plate next, facing Lexie Rainey in the circle. Shiner immediately gained two runners on a walk and a single. From there, an RBI double gave the Lady Comanches a 1-0 lead.
After consecutive fly outs, a two-RBI double extended Shiner’s lead to 3-0. Following a single, another fly out brought the first inning to a close.
The second inning opened with Rainey hitting a fly ball for an out and Hannah Ireland grounding out. On the next at-bat, Saylor Smith launched a solo home run, trimming the deficit to 3-1.
The Lady Eagles’ turn ended after Paisley Watkins hit a fly ball for an out.
The bottom of the second inning opened with a walk. After a fly out, an RBI double extended the Lady Comanches’ lead to 4-1. This was followed by another RBI double, bringing the score to 5-1.
After Shiner hit a single, a sacrifice fly ball brought home another run, increasing their lead to 6-1. The second inning ended after a fly out.
The Lady Eagles went down in order to start the third inning, as Cameron Kettwich, Sarah Corley and Oud grounded out.
The bottom of the third inning began with a fly out and a ground out. After a walk, and RBI double increased the Lady Comanches’ lead to 7-1.
After the walk, the next batter was intentionally walked, loading the bases. The Lady Comanches then hit a grand slam, increasing their lead to 11-1.
Two more runners were then gained on a walk and a single. This was followed by a two-RBI triple, increasing Shiner’s lead to 13-1. From there, Rainey was relieved by Kettwich in the circle.
The next batter grounded out, ending the inning.
The fourth inning began with Hunt lining out. After Adair drew a walk, the Lady Eagles’ turn ended after Rainey hit a fly ball for an out and Ireland grounded out.
The bottom of the fourth inning opened with a ground out and a fly out. After a single, another grounded out ended the inning.
The fifth inning began with Smith hitting a double. However, an out also occurred when Smith was tagged out advancing to third base.
After Watkins hit a double, two more outs followed when Kettwich struck out and Corley grounded out. With that, the Lady Comanches capped off a 13-1 run-rule victory and took the lead in the series.
As a team, the Lady Eagles batted just three for 17 (.176) from the plate. Smith recorded two hits, and Watkins added one. Smith also scored the Lady Eagles’ lone run of the game.
Rainey suffered the loss in the circle. Across 2⅔ innings, she surrendered 13 earned runs, 11 hits and six walks. Kettwich pitched the last 1⅓ innings, conceding one hit.
GAME 2 COMO-PICKTON 4 SHINER 2
The Lady Comanches stepped up to the plate first, facing Adair in the circle. The first batter drew a walk, but an out followed soon after when the runner was caught stealing second base.
Shiner then gained runners on a single and a walk. After a fly out, the bases loaded up on a walk. From there, another fly out ended the Lady Comanches’ turn.
The Lady Eagles came to the plate next. Their turn started with Oud hitting a fly ball for an out.
Two runners were gained after Hunt and Adair drew walks. From there, however, the last two outs occurred when Rainey hit a fly ball for an out and Aubrey Martinez (courtesy running for Adair) was picked off at first base, ending the inning.
The second inning began with a fly out and a strikeout. Following a walk, another fly out ended Shiner’s turn.
The bottom of the second inning opened with Ireland drawing a walk and Smith hit a single. Watkins then hit a sacrifice bunt to move Ireland to third base and Smith to second base, respectively.
After Kettwich struck out, Ireland scored on a wild pitch, giving the Lady Eagles a 1-0 lead. Soon after, Corley brought Smith home with an RBI double, bringing the score to 2-0. The second inning ended after Oud hit a fly ball for an out.
The Lady Comanches were retired in order to start the third inning, following a ground out, a strikeout and a line out.
The bottom of the third inning started with Hunt and Adair grounding out. Two runners were gained when Rainey drew a walk and Ireland hit a single. The third inning came to a close when Smith struck out.
The fourth inning opened with a fly out. After a single, another fly out followed.
Following a walk, an RBI single put Shiner on the board, as they trimmed Como-Pickton’s lead to 2-1. Shiner’s turn ended after another fly out.
The Lady Eagles went down in order during the bottom of the fourth inning, after Watkins hit a fly ball for an out, and both Kettwich and Corley struck out.
The fifth inning began with a pair of fly outs. The Lady Comanches then gained runners on a walk and a single. Another fly out followed, ending Shiner’s turn.
The bottom of the fifth inning started with Oud hitting a double. Hunt then brought Oud home on an RBI double, extending the Lady Eagles’ lead to 3-1.
After Adair hit a fly ball for an out, Rainey brought Hunt home on an RBI single, bringing the score to 4-1. This was followed by Ireland hitting a double.
The fifth inning ended after Smith struck out and Watkins hit a fly ball for an out.
The sixth inning began with a pair of walks. After a ground out, a sacrifice fly ball brought a runner home, as Shiner trimmed the score to 4-2.
After the next batter walked, a fly out ended Shiner’s turn.
The bottom of the sixth inning began with Kettwich drawing a walk. From there, three straight outs followed when Corley lined out, Oud struck out and Hunt hit a fly ball for an out.
The seventh inning started with a walk. After a fly out, the Lady Comanches loaded up the bases with a single and a walk.
From there, a strikeout and a ground out brought the game to a close, as the Lady Eagles capped off a 4-2 victory and tied the series at 1-1.
As a team, the Lady Eagles batted seven for 23 (.304) from the plate. Ireland led with two hits, while Corley, Hunt, Oud, Rainey and Smith added one hit each.
Hunt, Ireland, Oud and Smith scored one run each.
Adair earned the victory in the circle. Across seven innings, she conceded 11 walks, but only allowed five hits and two earned runs, while striking out three batters.
UP NEXT
With these results, the Lady Eagles are now 35-8 on the season. Game 3 of the series is Saturday, May 23 at 3 p.m. Coverage of the game will be published in Wednesday’s edition of the News-Telegram.