Lady Cardinals beat Lady Bears for first place

The best two softball teams in District 19-4A played Tuesday, April 4, in Bridge City. The Bridge City Lady Cardinals won the contest 2-1 over the Little Cypress Mauriceville Lady Bears.

With the victory Bridge City (7-1) moved to the top spot in the district. Bridge City Coach Raven Harris commented on moving into first place. "It's exciting, that's what we're working for. If there's any opportunity for us to continue the streak we're going to take it. We want to win every ball game that we can," Harris responded.

Little Cypress Mauriceville was in second place trailing the Lady Cardinals by only half a game in the standings. Bridge City had its second half bye date the Friday after the game with the Lady Bears.

Bridge City has won six straight district games since dropping a 4-2 decision to Little Cypress Mauriceville back in early March. The big difference between the two games for the Lady Cardinals was Carson Fall was in the circle pitching on Tuesday.

Fall who was nursing a leg injury at the beginning of district won her third straight game since returning to the lineup. Carson pitched seven innings giving up just two hits, walking one, and striking out 15 Lady Bears to get the victory.

Tessa Erickson of Little Cypress Mauriceville took the loss despite a superb pitching performance. Erickson went the distance too allowing five hits, one walk, and one hit batter while striking out four.

The Lady Cardinals opened the scoring in the bottom of the first after Haley Munoz began the inning ripping a double down the right field line. Makenna Carey courtesy ran for Munoz and scored on a single to center by Nicole Sasser to give Bridge City a 1-0 lead with no outs.

That would be the last run for either team until the seventh inning. Both the Lady Cardinals and the Lady Bears threatened, but Fall and Erickson both pitched brilliantly to keep the score unchanged for the next five innings.

Bridge City got a walk to Amaris Larkin and Munoz was hit by a pitch to start the third. A fielder's choice by Sasser moved Larkin to third, and Sasser then stole second base. Erickson struck out a Lady Cardinal and then got a fly ball to center to quelch the threat without allowing a run.

To that point in the game Fall had struck out all nine LCM batters she had faced. Leadoff Lady Bear batter Eden Frenzel in the top of the fourth tried to mix things up by laying down a bunt which Fall fielded but threw errantly to first base to give the Lady Bears their first base runner.

Frenzel stole second base and advanced to third on a ground out to second by Lexis Moss for the second out of the inning. Carson chalked up her eleventh strikeout of the game to preserve her shutout.

The Lady Cardinals got a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth when Brooklyn Droddy singled with one out and then stole second base. The next two Bridge City batters could not get her home.

Little Cypress Mauriceville finally broke up the no-hitter in the top of the sixth as Ella Stephenson singled in the hole between first and second. Frenzel sacrificed Stephenson to second base but that was as far as Ella got because Fall registered another strike out to end the inning.

Down to their last three outs the Lady Bears had Moss hit the hardest shot of the game for LCM to lead off the top of the seventh. The ball just narrowly went over the outstretched glove of Amaris Larkin in right field, and Lexis made it to third base with a triple. Ava Wright followed with a long fly to center field allowing Moss to tag up and score the tying run.

In the bottom of the seventh with one out freshman Lady Cardinal Makenna Knight blasted a drive to the centerfield fence for a double. Kyleigh Hamilton attempted to bunt a pitch and missed it but so did the Lady Bear catcher allowing Knight to go to third.

The game ended surprisingly when the subsequent throw-back to the pitcher was missed and the ball rolled through the pitching circle towards second base. Knight alertly saw the miscue and hustled home with the winning run in the 2-1 triumph.

Bridge City Coach Raven Harris commented on the superb work done by Carson Fall in the circle for the Lady Cardinals. "Carson got out there and dominated. She did a really good job of keeping them off balance. Coach Adkins of LCM had picked up our signal for the change up so that kind of limited us on what we were able to throw, but Carson did well with the pitches we were able to throw," Harris indicated.

Though just a freshman Makenna Knight has made significant contributions for Bridge City. Harris recognized, "She's one of core kids. Makenna gets up there and she makes something happen, and she does whatever we say so when I say go she goes she doesn't question it so that's awesome to have as a coach."

Little Cypress Mauriceville had its game with Vidor on Thursday, April 6, suspended because of lightning and rain with the score tied 3-3 in the fourth inning. The Lady Pirates scored three runs in the first inning but Lady Bear Tessa Erickson came in to pitch in the second inning to keep the deficit at three runs.

The Lady Bears made a comeback starting in the bottom of the second when Ansley Moore singled with two outs to drive in the first run for LCM. Two more Lady Bears scored in the third on a fly ball by Keylie Washburn.

The action resumed on Monday, April 10, with Little Cypress Mauriceville taking the lead 4-3 when Washburn singled to drive in Eden Frenzel in the fifth inning. Vidor tied the game in the top of the seventh before Lexis Moss doubled to bring home Washburn with the winning run 5-4 in the bottom half of the seventh.

The winning pitcher for the Lady Bears was Erickson who pitched the final six innings yielding the one run in the seventh. With the victory Little Cypress Mauriceville (7-1) moved into a tie with Bridge City for first place in the district.

Bridge City resumed action on Tuesday, April 11, against the Vidor Lady Pirates after a bye. The Lady Cardinals next game is Friday at home against Lumberton. The Lady Bears played at Lumberton on Tuesday, April 11, and will play at home against Jasper on Friday.