money Abilene High, Wylie sail into postseason playing their best softball
Abilene High and Wylie open the softball playoffs Thursday peaking at the right time.
AHS has won six of its last seven games, while the Lady Bulldogs have won eight of their last nine – little wonder both go into the postseason brimming with confidence.
The Lady Eagles (16-9) play El Paso Americas in a best-of-three Region I-6A bi-district series in Fort Stockton, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Wylie (18-7), meanwhile, faces Amarillo Caprock in a one-game Region I-5A opener at Lubbock-Cooper in Woodrow.
The Lady Eagles' turnaround has been spectacular.
They went 2-4 in the first half of District 2-6A play, and it appeared they would spend the second half just trying to make the postseason – just like last season.
Yet they went 5-1 in the second half, including a 9-0 victory over eventual district champion Wolfforth Frenship. Even red-hot Midland High needed nine innings to edge AHS 4-3 the final week of the regular season.
So, what did the Lady Eagles do turn it all around?
“The girls just really took initiative and really put in the work in practice,” first-year AHS coach Jenna Bane said. “They made their weaknesses their strengths and made their good into great.”
Things looked bleak when AHS endured a four-game losing streak, following a 12-2 win at Odessa Permian in the league opener.
Bane said the Lady Eagles were struggling in all three phases of the game during the skid – pitching, hitting and defense.
“It was frustrating, because I knew the girls were frustrated,” Bane said. “They’re great ballplayers. They put in the work. I knew they would put it together.”
Bane saw the light at the end of the tunnel after an 8-6 home loss against Odessa High on March 22 for the third straight loss.
“Our offense and defense played great (in that game),” Bane said. “Our pitchers were just missing a little bit. But the next day at practice, our pitchers came in, they put in the work. We had a hard bullpen that day and made minor adjustments. After seeing that, I knew we were going to get on track.”
AHS still lost its next game, 4-0 at Midland High, as Alex Aguilar tossed a perfect game. She struck out 14.
“We treat every game as if it’s the same. We’re not worried about who it is. They put their socks on the same we do every day. We’ll go watch some film, figure out what we need to do, but at the end of the day, we’re going to go and play our game.”
AHS has outscored its opponents 46-12 in its last five victories.
The Lady Eagles beat San Angelo Central 2-1 in nine innings in Abilene to snap the four-game skid, and they’ve been soaring ever since to nab third place outright behind Frenship and Midland High.
“We’re playing a great game,” Bane said. “Defense has been on point, hitters are scoring people when we get them in scoring position, and pitchers are hitting their spots.”
Now, AHS faces an Americas team ranked No. 21 in the Texas Girls Coaches Association’s Class 6A state poll. The Trailblazers shared the District 1-6A title with El Paso Eastwood. Americas reached the region quarterfinals last year.
“We treat every game as if it’s the same,” Bane said. “We’re not worried about who it is. They put their socks on the same we do every day. We’ll go watch some film, figure out what we need to do, but at the end of the day, we’re going to go and play our game.”
AHS plays Game 2 at 5:30 p.m. Friday, and Game 3, if needed, will be played 30 minutes after Game 2. The series’ winner plays the Keller (18-10)/Hurst Bell (9-16-2) winner in the second round next week. Southlake Carroll beat the Lady Eagles in the region quarterfinals last year.
Lady Bulldogs on a roll
Wylie didn’t have quite the first-half struggles in district like AHS.
But the Lady Bulldogs did start league play 0-2 – losing to defending district champion Lubbock Monterey 14-7 and Lubbock Coronado 9-8.
Monterey, ranked No. 10 in Class 5A, is the only team to beat Wylie since – needing a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh for a 3-2 win April 8 in Lubbock.
The Lady Bulldogs have outscored their last four opponents 48-4, including 17-0 and 23-1 wins over Lubbock High and Cooper to end the regular season.
“We’re playing some of the best softball we’ve played all year, and you want to do that at this point and have confidence,” Wylie coach Heather Collier said. “Because from here on out, it doesn’t matter where you finished in district or who you’re playing. It starts over, 0-0. So, we’ve got to make sure we’re not complacent and keep working hard in practice and just keep playing the good softball we’ve been playing.”
Wylie, which nabbed second outright behind Monterey in district, has little room for error in a one-game playoff against Caprock, the No. 3 seed from District 3.
“I lost a flip, and it wasn’t my first choice,” Collier said about the one-game playoff. “But it’s the cards we’re dealt, and we’ve got to take care of business.”
Collier believes district play got her team ready for the situation.
“Some of those games in district, it was kind of life or death just to keep us in a good spot,” Collier said. “So, we’ve got to think of it like that.”
The Wylie/Caprock winner plays either El Paso Chapin or Canutillo in the second round. The Lady Bulldogs reached the region quarterfinals last year, falling to Monterey.
Joey D. Richards covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him at Twitter at ARN_Joey. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.
REGION I-6A
Bi-District
Abilene High (16-9) vs. El Paso Americas – Game 1: 5:30 p.m. Thursday; Game 2: noon Friday; Game 3: 30 minutes after Game 2, if necessary. All games at Fort Stockton
REGION I-5A
Bi-District
Wylie (18-7) vs. Amarillo Caprock – One game: 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Lubbock-Cooper
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abilene High, Wylie open softball playoffs on a hot streak
