Cardinal softball nesting in first place

Just two weeks remain in the regular season for local high school softball teams. The Bridge City Cardinals are undefeated in District 19-4A and in sole possession of first place.

Bridge City took a big step towards claiming the district championship on Tuesday, April 2, with a 2-0 win over the third place Little Cypress Mauriceville Lady Bears at The Pete. The win stretched the Cardinals' lead over LCM to three games with four games remaining and maintained a one game advantage over second place Lumberton.

Cardinal pitcher Carson Fall was phenomenal once again striking out 18 Lady Bears in the shutout. Fall has surpassed three hundred strikeouts for the season and will reach an astonishing one thousand strikeouts during her four year career at Bridge City with her next "K".

The Lady Bears came into the game averaging almost twelve runs a game in their six previous district contests which included being no-hitted and shutout by Fall when they played earlier on March 8. LCM leadoff hitter Eden Frenzel hit a slow roller to short and just beat the throw to first base spoiling the possibility of another no-hitter in the first inning. It would be the only hit of the night and the lone base runner for Little Cypress Mauriceville.

Nearly matching the marvelous pitching by Fall was Tessa Erickson of the Lady Bears. Erickson surrendered three hits, walked one, and hit one Cardinal with a pitch while striking out six during her seven innings in the circle.

Four hits were all there were between the two teams. Anna Autrey of Bridge City had two of them blooping a single in the first and then ripping a hard liner for a hit in the fourth inning.

The base hit in the top of the fourth by Autrey set the stage for the only runs of the contest. Makenna Knight sacrificed Autrey to second. Fall batted next and homered just to the right of straight away centerfield to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.

Bridge City threatened in the fifth when Kyleigh Hamilton and Haley Munoz reached base with no outs. Erickson induced pop ups from the next two Cardinals before registering a strikeout to end the inning.

Tessa retired the last nine Bridge City batters she faced with four strikeouts. Fall was almost untouchable after the hit to open the first inning by Frenzel as only three Lady Bears even put a ball in play with Lexis Moss flying out to centerfield in the fourth inning the only ball Carson allowed to be hit out of the infield in seven innings.

"Carson met her three hundred strikeouts for the season and she's one strikeout away from one thousand for her career. It's outstanding when you think about she's coming back from being injured and not having the season she really wanted to have last year. I've praised her before numerous times, but she just works hard and I'm glad I get to watch her meet those goals because she really does deserve it. Carson puts in the time and she loves her teammates for doing what they do behind her, and that's a big deal," Cardinal Coach Kylie Bradley praised.

Bridge City had a bye on Friday before playing on Tuesday, April 9, against the Lady Pirates at Vidor which was a change of location caused by rain earlier in the district schedule. The Cardinals next game will be Friday, April 12, in Lumberton against the second place Lady Raiders who Bridge City beat 3-0 back in March.

Little Cypress Mauriceville bounced back on Friday with a good 6-2 win on the road against the fourth place Vidor Lady Pirates. Tessa Erickson pitched a complete game to get the victory for the Lady Bears striking out eight and only walking one Lady Pirate.

LCM scored the first two runs of the game in the third and added three more in the top of the sixth inning to take a 5-1 lead. Eden Frenzel, Ava White, and Erickson each went two for four with their bats. Jacelyn Cook and Ava Wright both had a hit and a run batted in for the Lady Bears.

Tuesday of this week was another big game for Little Cypress Mauriceville at Lumberton. The Lady Raiders upset the Lady Bears 11-10 in the first meeting between the two teams back on March 16. LCM travels to Jasper on Friday.

Orangefield solidified its hold on second place in District 21-3A with two wins last week. The Lady Bobcats are 9-2 in district and 21-8-1 on their season.

Tuesday's win was a slugfest as Orangefield overcame Kirbyville 16-12 piling up sixteen hits. Charlee Sanches had a homer and a double among her four hits as she scored four runs and drove in five Lady Bobcats.

Aubree Beck bashed three hits with two of them doubles to help her score two runs. Paris Becker produced five runs with her two hits. Haylee Spears, Alysen Vincent, Hallee Becker, Abby Broussard, Abigail Curphey, and Audrey Sonnier all accounted for at least one Orangefield run.

The Lady Bobcats blasted East Chambers 12-2 in six innings on Friday, April 5. Abigail Curphey was the winning pitcher throwing four innings allowing one earned run with five strikeouts. Charlee Sanches threw two shutout innings to close out the game.

Paris Becker had the biggest bat for the Lady Bobcats with three hits to drive in three runs. Aubree Beck had two hits, two runs, and two runs batted in. Sanches rapped two doubles that led to two runs and two rbis for her.

Alysen Vincent, Abby Broussard, Hallee Becker, and Paisley Reeves each reached base multiple times to help the Lady Bobcat offense. Also contributing were Greenlea Oldham, Audrey Sonnier, and Curphey to the dozen Orangefield runs.

Staff Appreciation night was Tuesday at Orangefield's Paul Cormier Softball Field against Warren. The Lady Bobcats play at home against Buna on April 12 before closing out the regular season on Tuesday, April 16, at Hardin.