LCM and Bridge City capture important softball wins

As the regular season for softball approaches its conclusion three local teams are in strong positions to make the post season. Final district games will be played the week of April 16-19 for Bridge City, Little Cypress Mauriceville, Orangefield, and West Orange-Stark.

The Little Cypress Mauriceville Lady Bears won two key games last week. LCM has moved into a tie for second place in District 19-4A with the pair of victories.

The Lady Bears played a game on Tuesday, April 9, which had an earlier start time because of the forecast calling for inclement weather and was stretched to almost four hours by multiple rain delays. The Lady Bears beat the Lady Raiders 11-7 at Lumberton.

LCM grabbed the initial lead with a run in the top of the first inning. Lumberton tied the game in the second before the Lady Bears scored twice in the third and once in the fourth for a 4-1 lead.

The big inning was the fifth for Little Cypress Mauriceville when six Lady Bears crossed the plate to give them a 10-3 advantage. The Lady Raiders tallied three times in the bottom of the fifth and both teams tacked on an additional run in the sixth inning.

Senior Jacelyn Cook was the hero with her bat going two for four with a walk, scoring two runs, and driving in three. Cook hit a bases loaded triple during LCM's explosive six run fifth inning.

Other Lady Bears with good nights offensively were Eden Frenzel who scored three runs and Ava White with two runs and a run batted in. Keylie Washburn also tripled to drive in a run and scored once herself.

Pitcher Ella Stephenson threw a complete game in the circle for Little Cypress Mauriceville to get the important win. Stephenson gave up five hits to the Lady Raiders, struck out eight, and only two of the seven runs she allowed were earned.

Little Cypress Mauriceville followed up that win by blasting Jasper 11-4 on Friday night. Keylie Washburn walloped a double to drive in two runs, ripped a run scoring single, and hammered a two run homer to total five rbis in the victory.

Tessa Erickson joined Washburn in hitting a homerun in the final inning for the Lady Bears. Ava White had four hits while Jillian Brown and Lexis Moss both collected multiple hits.

Erickson got the win in the circle pitching the first four innings for LCM. Tessa struck out seven and walked three and allowed two runs. Ella Stephenson appeared in relief to close out the win. The Lady Bear defense was stellar behind the two pitchers playing error free and turning two double plays.

The wins by the Lady Bears (7-3) pulled them into a virtual tie for second place with Lumberton (8-3) which also lost to Bridge City on Friday. The Lady Raiders played their district finale at Vidor on Tuesday. The Lady Bears played West Orange-Stark on Tuesday, and close the regular season at Silsbee on Friday.

The Bridge City Cardinals got two more no hitters from pitcher Carson Fall as they remain undefeated in district and have clinched the district championship. The Cardinals had a three game lead over both Little Cypress Mauriceville and Lumberton with two games left on the district schedule.

Bridge City shutout the Vidor Lady Pirates 12-0 in five innings on Tuesday, April 9. Fall reached a great milestone surpassing one thousand strikeouts in her four years at Bridge City with her nine strikeouts of the Lady Pirates.

Leading the Cardinal offense was Lexi Nugier scoring two runs and driving in a pair. Makenna Knight had a two run double, Anna Autrey and Kylie Hamilton had two hits each.

The normally heavy hitting Lumberton Lady Raiders were no match for Carson who no hit them on the following Friday. The Cardinals won 6-0 over Lumberton to improve to 10-0 in district.

The no hitters were Fall's fourth and fifth in district games this year. Opponents have scored one run in the ten district wins by Bridge City. The Cardinals played at home on Tuesday against Jasper, and will finish the regular season on Friday at West Orange-Stark.

The Orangefield Lady Bobcats celebrated their four senior members on the softball team prior to Friday's game. Abigail Curphey, Paris Becker, Greenlea Oldham, and Abby Broussard were part of two district championships in 2021 and last season. The 2023 Lady Bobcats had the winningest season in program history with 27 wins in making the team's first trip in school history to the regional semi-finals. The four seniors have contributed to 86 program wins over the last four seasons.

After recognizing the four seniors the Lady Bobcats bopped the Buna Lady Cougars 14-4 in five innings which solidified Orangefield's hold on second place in District 21-3A. Pitcher Abigail Curphey got the complete game win with all four Buna runs attributed to errors.

The Lady Cougars took the lead 3-0 in the third inning. Three runs scored after a dropped foul pop up by the Lady Bobcats with two outs gave Buna new life.

Orangefield exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the fourth. Charlee Sanches started the inning with a single and was sacrificed to second by Curphey. Alysen Vincent was hit by a pitch and Abby Broussard singled to load the bases with Lady Bobcats.

Paisley Reeves hit a grounder to third that forced a quick throw to the plate that was errant allowing two Lady Bobcats to score. A pitch hit Greenlea Oldham to reload the bases for Orangefield.

Aubree Beck and Hallee Becker followed with singles to give the Lady Bobcats the lead 4-3 with the bases still loaded. With two outs Sanches batted for the second time in the inning and singled to drive in two runs before Curphey brought home two more runs with a single. Aubrey Sonnier courtesy ran for Curphey and scored on Broussard's second hit of the inning to put Orangefield up 9-3 after four.

Buna got one run back in the top of the fifth, but the Lady Bobcats picked up in the bottom half of the inning where they left off in the fourth. Beck doubled off the leftfield fence and the Becker sisters both reached base with two runs scoring when Paris' grounder to shortstop was thrown into the dugout. Sanches doubled off the top of the centerfield fence to drive in the third run of the inning for Orangefield.

Curphey singled and Sonnier courtesy ran again. Sanches and Sonnier both eventually scored on grounders by Vincent and Broussard to give the Lady Bobcats a 14-4 lead to invoke the ten run mercy rule.

"We had a close one with Buna in the first round of district, so I fully expected this to be a tough game. I never expected to be able to come out and roll the Lady Cougars. In that nine run inning the Lady Bobcats started timing pitches up and hit the ball hard which I was proud of them," Orangefield Coach Rebekah Ragsdale said after the game.

The final two games of the regular season for the Orangefield Lady Bobcats (10-2) were scheduled for earlier this week. A makeup game because of a rainout was to be played on Monday, April 15, in Orangefield against Warren before the Lady Bobcats traveled to Hardin on Tuesday with the playoffs to follow next week.