Bridge City Beats Lumberton in Softball Battle

The first half of district games concluded on Tuesday, March 26, in District 19-4A, and the Bridge City Cardinals are in first place winning all their games played so far in district. The battle of unbeaten teams played out at the Bridge City softball field on Tuesday, March 19, only the hometown Cardinals were undefeated when the contest was over.

The Bridge City Cardinals improved to 4-0 in district with the 3-0 win over the Lumberton Lady Raiders. The loss was the first in district for the Lady Raiders who had won their first four district games averaging 13 runs a game.

Cardinal pitcher Carson Fall continued her dominant pitching this season throwing a two-hit shutout, with one walk, and striking out 17 Lumberton batters. Only one ball was even hit out of the infield by the Lady Raiders.

Fall struck out four of the first five Lady Raiders she faced before allowing the only hard struck ball of the night a single to center field by the sixth hitter. Carson got her fifth strikeout on the next batter to end the second inning.

Bridge City took the lead in the bottom of the second as Lexi Nugier hit a bloop double to right field. The right fielder for Lumberton then made an errant throw to third base which allowed Nugier to continue to hustle around third and come home just beating the throw to the plate for the first run of the game.

With two outs in the third inning the top of the Lumberton batting order faced Fall for the second time and coaxed a base on balls. The Lady Raider stole second base but that was as far as she got because Fall struck out the next hitter to end the inning.

The Cardinals threatened in both the third and fourth innings. Pinch runner Gabby Moore was thrown out at the plate trying to score following a Lady Raider throwing error in the third inning. Two runners were left on base in the fourth for Bridge City.

Some insurance runs came for the Cardinals in the fifth after Nicole Sasser socked a leadoff double against the centerfield fence. Haley Munoz then lined her second of three hits on the night to drive home Sasser to make the score 2-0 in favor of Bridge City.

Makenna Knight reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to third on a single by Anna Autrey that clanged off the centerfield fence. Knight scored on a ground ball to second by Fall that put the Cardinals up by three runs.

A great defensive play robbed Bridge City of two more runs that inning. Brooklyn Droddy singled moving Autrey to third as Droddy advanced to second on the throw home. Nugier lined a drive to left center on which the Lumberton centerfielder made a sensational catch.

Lumberton got its second and final hit as well as last base runner of the night in the top of the sixth with a bunt by the top of the batting order that landed just beyond the reach of Fall behind the pitching circle. A sacrifice bunt got the Lady Raider to second, but she rounded the bag too far and was forced to scramble when Droddy at first base for the Cardinals fired the ball to second base. Fall tagged out the runner out following a brief rundown to end the inning.

Three more strikeouts in the seventh completed the job well done by Carson and her Cardinal teammates. "I couldn't really ask for more. I love these girls. They work hard, and I think they deserve the wins that they're getting, so that's a big deal," Bridge City Coach Kylie Bradley responded.

The Cardinals gave Coach Bradley a decisive victory on Friday, March 22, with a 14-0 win over Jasper. Carson Fall threw a no-hitter and drove in two runs with her bat. Lexi Nugier and Kyleigh Hamilton both had two hits in the triumph.

Bridge City concluded the first half of district at home against the West Orange-Stark Lady Mustangs on Tuesday. The second half starts on Thursday, March 28, at Silsbee for the Cardinals.

Second place Lumberton blasted Vidor 14-3 on Friday. The Lady Raiders have won five district games outscoring their opponents 66 to 18 in those games but were shutout by Fall and Bridge City.

The Little Cypress Mauriceville Lady Bears are in third place in District 19-4A through the first half of games. LCM (3-2) has lost to Bridge City and Lumberton in district. The Lady Bears won twice last week 12-1 against Jasper and 23-0 at West Orange-Stark.

Keylie Washburn homered and tripled driving in four runs during the game with Jasper. Tessa Erickson hit a bases loaded double to bring home three Lady Bears and was strong in the circle with 11 strikeouts to get the pitching win.

Ella Stephenson needed only three innings to get the pitching win against West Orange-Stark without giving up a hit, walking one, and striking out four. Eden Frenzel hit a double and a triple, scored four times, and knocked in two other Lady Bears. Ava Wright was two for two including a double driving in four runs, and Erickson had five runs batted in for Little Cypress Mauriceville.

Silsbee visited "The Pete" on Tuesday to conclude the first half of district play for the Lady Bears. LCM plays its next game also at home on Tuesday, April 2, against first place Bridge City.

The Orangefield Lady Bobcats concluded the first half of play in District 21-3A on a six game winning streak. Orangefield captured two of those wins last week against Buna and Hardin.

On Tuesday, March 29, the Lady Bobcats had a 6-5 comeback win on the road over Buna. Charlee Sanches was the hero with her arm and her bat getting the win in the circle throwing the last four innings while also driving in two Lady Bobcats in the seventh for the tying and winning runs.

Hallee Becker got the rally started for Orangefield in the seventh with the third of her three hits in the game. Aubree Beck added three hits and scored two runs. Haylee Spears had a double among her two hits and scored a run.

The Lady Bobcats beat the Hardin Lady Hornets 8-1 at the Paul Cormier Softball Field in Orangefield on Friday. Charlee Sanches pitched a complete game going seven innings allowing four hits, walking none, and striking out seven.

The Orangefield offense started and ended with Aubree Beck who led off the third inning of a scoreless game with a single to left for her second hit of the evening. Aubree stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored the first run on a grounder by Paris Becker.

Sanches doubled to drive in Hallee Becker who had walked to give the Lady Bobcats a 2-0 lead. Abby Broussard singled to bring home Abigail Curphey who reached on a base on balls, and Haylee Spears blooped a single to score two more runs.

Beck came up for the second time in the inning and proceeded to plant a pitch over the leftfield fence for a three run homerun. Eight runs scored for Orangefield in the third which was all the scoring in the game except for Hardin's lone tally in the seventh.

"Defensively I thought we looked good. Charlee got a start tonight and threw really well taking a no hitter into the fifth. Scoring those eight runs in the third I wish they would have been a little more spread out and that we scored a few more times in some other innings. I was proud of our effort tonight," Orangefield Coach Rebekah Ragsdale replied.

The second half of District 21-3A began on Tuesday, March 26, for Orangefield against Kountze who beat the Lady Bobcats 3-1 to open district on February 27. The next game for the Lady Bobcats will be Thursday, March 28, in Orangefield against Anahuac.