Bridge City softball undefeated through three games

Two weeks into the district softball schedule the Bridge City Cardinals have moved to the top of the District 19-4A standings. The Cardinals were undefeated in their first three district games.

Bridge City opened with shutouts by pitcher Carson Fall against Silsbee and Little Cypress Mauriceville during the first week of the district schedule. The only district game scheduled for last week was actually played on Monday, March 18, because of rain on the previous Friday.

Playing at Vidor the Lady Cardinals defeated the Lady Pirates 3-1 for Bridge City's third straight win in district. The win by Bridge City set the stage for a showdown on Tuesday, March 19, at home for the Cardinals against the also undefeated Lumberton Lady Raiders who were averaging 13 runs a game in their four district victories prior to the contest with Bridge City.

The Cardinals travel to Jasper on Friday. Bridge City's next home game will be Tuesday, March 26, against the West Orange-Stark Lady Mustangs.

Little Cypress Mauriceville evened its district softball record at 1-1 on March 12 which was a special night for a ceremony naming the softball field "The Pete" to honor Pete Mota a longtime fan of high school sports in Orange County. Mota has supported all the athletes at LCM since 1975, and both his daughters graduated from Little Cypress Mauriceville High School.

The Lady Bears won the ball game that followed the ceremony to honor Pete Mota defeating the Vidor Lady Pirates 10-1. The game was much closer than the final score indicated.

Tessa Erickson started in the circle for the Lady Bears and escaped the first inning without allowing a run. Vidor had two runners on with two out when Erickson got a strikeout to end the threat.

In the bottom of the first LCM scored two runs without the benefit of a clean hit. Eden Frenzel and Jaceyln Cook reached base on infield grounders that were either bobbled or thrown away by the Lady Pirates. Frenzel came home on Cook's bunt that was fielded but the throw was wide of first base.

Batting after Cook was Lexis Moss who walked and was courtesy run for by Alex Pinder. Erickson grounded out which moved Cook to third base from where she scored the second run on a sacrifice fly to left by Ava White.

The Lady Bears' lead went to 3-0 in the second as Asia Woodson doubled to left center field. Woodson advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Frenzel to left field.

The pitchers Erickson and Sophia Aguirre for Vidor handcuffed the opposing batters in the middle innings. Erickson kept the Lady Pirates from scoring through the first four innings and Aguirre retired ten straight Lady Bears before Frenzel got their second hit of the game in the fifth inning.

The Lady Pirates threatened to score in the third after their leadoff batter Tylen Cassell reached on a single and an error, but Woodson gunned Cassell out at third when the Lady Pirate attempted to advance on a fly ball to right field.

In the fourth Vidor got a double to start the inning before Erickson struck out the next two batters. Frenzel then saved a run for LCM when she went into shallow center to snare a liner that appeared to have base hit written all over it.

The Lady Pirates broke through in the top of the fifth inning. A hit batter and a pair of two out singles produced a run for Vidor that made the score 3-1 with two innings to play.

The score was still 3-1 when Little Cypress Mauriceville came to bat in the bottom of the sixth. White was hit by a pitch with one out to start a Lady Bear rally.

Ava Wright singled to center and Keylie Washburn lined a base hit to left on which White tried to score, but was thrown out at the plate on a very close play. The Vidor catcher then tried to throw out Wright at third base but her throw went into left field allowing Wright and Washburn to come home to give LCM a 5-1 advantage.

The hits kept coming for the Lady Bears as Woodson singled, Ella Stephenson doubled, Frenzel doubled, Moss tripled after a walk to Cook, and Erickson singled. Seven Lady Bears scored in the sixth to stretch the LCM lead to 10-1 going to the seventh.

Erickson got the win throwing a complete game. Tessa in her seven innings yielded just one run on six hits, with no walks, two hit batters, and struck out seven Lady Pirates.

"I tell my girls every time we step on the field for this district it's going to be a scrap, and we have to bring our best game. We were not really killing the ball early on, but I know my girls. They never lost their heads, they stayed calm, and they put the bat to the ball in the sixth inning to come out on top," Coach Dena Adkins reminded after the game.

Strong pitching and solid defense were the other keys to the Lady Bear win. Adkins described, "Tessa stayed locked in and she had great defense behind her with probably one of the best outfields I've gotten to coach in a long time. The Lady Bears had Tessa's back when Vidor had runners in scoring position her defense was there to stop it."

Rain postponed Little Cypress Mauriceville's next game to Saturday and the location was changed to The Pete after originally being scheduled to be played at Lumberton. The Lady Raiders pounded out an 11-10 win over LCM. Lexis Moss of the Lady Bears drove in seven runs hitting two homeruns and a double.

Little Cypress Mauriceville (1-2) played at Jasper on Tuesday, March 19. The Lady Bears play at West Orange-Stark on Friday before entertaining Silsbee next Tuesday at The Pete.

The West Orange-Stark Lady Mustangs were looking for their first district win with Jasper on Tuesday, March 12. The Lady Mustangs lost in three innings 18-0 with Alexia Guyton and Christian Berry getting the only two hits for WOS.

Last Friday was a bye for the Lady Mustangs before they played at Silsbee on Tuesday of this week. West Orange-Stark (0-3) plays its next game at home on Friday, March 22, against Little Cypress Mauriceville.

The Orangefield Lady Bobcats (4-1) have won four straight District 21-3A games. The last two triumphs have been very impressive with the Lady Bobcats outscoring their two opponents thirty to nothing.

The Orangefield Lady Bobcats won 13-0 over East Chambers on Tuesday, March 12. Abigail Curphey got the win in the circle going four innings giving up three hits. Charlee Sanches threw a hitless fifth inning to finish the game for Orangefield.

The hitting star was Paris Becker ripping three hits including a double, with three runs batted in, and a run scored. Curphey doubled and drove in four runs. Aubree Beck reached base three times as did Hallee Becker and both scored three runs. It was a team effort for the Lady Bobcat bats as Sanches, Greenlea Oldham, Abby Broussard, Paisley Reeves, Aubrey Sonnier, and Alysen Vincent all accounted for one or more runs in the blowout.

Rain postponed Orangefield's next game until Monday at Warren. It was more or less a repeat of the previous game with the Lady Bobcats rolling 17-0 in five innings.

Curphey and Sanches combined to throw the shutout. Abigail struck out five in three innings of pitching and Sanches had a pair of strikeouts in her two innings in the circle while both surrendered a hit apiece to the Warren hitters.

Sanches socked a double and a single while scoring three runs and driving in three. Aubree Beck tripled, singled, and walked twice to score two runs and drive home two more. Paris Becker banged out a pair of hits including a double scored three runs and knocked in two runs. It really was a hit parade for all the Lady Bobcats as Abby Broussard, Abigail Curphey, Audrey Sonnier, Hallee Becker, Greenlea Oldham, Alysen Vincent, Paisley Reeves, and Brennah Lee also accounted for Orangefield runs.

Orangefield played at Buna on Tuesday, March 19. The Lady Bobcats play again at home on Friday, March 22, against the Hardin Lady Hornets.