Van Wade
The Orange Leader
LITTLE CYPRESS
Sat, May 17 2008
—
One thing for certain, Friday night proved why District 22-4A softball has been so whacky all season long.
The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears, thanks to a two-run double by Alyssa Breshears and a fine pitching outing by junior Erin May, downed the first-place Nederland Lady Bulldogs and fireball pitcher Caitlin Austin 2-1 in 22-4A play at Lady Bear Field Friday night.
Despite Austin’s 15-strikeout two-hit performance, Breshears cashed in on a big two-run double in the fourth inning that broke a 0-0 tie.
May went the distance for the Lady Bears (18-7, 8-4), scattering two hits while striking out four and walking one.
The win puts the Lady Bears in a third-place tie in the standings with the Dayton Lady Broncos. Nederland (18-7, 10-2) maintains first-place and second-place Port Neches-Groves (9-3 in district) fell to Vidor (4-8 in district) 3-0 Friday. Lumberton is still very much alive as the Lady Raiders (7-5) nipped Beaumont Ozen (2-9) 5-4.
The Lady Bears head to Lumberton Tuesday and will host Vidor on Friday. Dayton still has both Nederland and PN-G on its schedule.
“I couldn’t be more prouder of a group of kids than I am tonight,” said Lady Bear head coach Thomas Bridges. “Austin was mowing us down left and right but we got that one big opportunity there in the fourth and Alyssa (Breshears) cashed in on it.”
Bridges was thrilled about May’s effort on the hill.
“Erin pitched a teriffic game,” said Bridges. “She didn’t overpower them but she picked her spots well, especially on that outside corner. That resulted in a lot of fly ball outs. To limit a Nederland team, which has a lot of kids that can mash the ball, to what she did was a major, major accomplishment.”
The Lady Bears took advantage of early Nederland miscues to go up 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
With one out, Britni Collins reached on an error and Austin walked Katye Harris. Austin was able to strike out Katie Harrell but came up with a huge two-run double to leftfield on a 2-0 count that scored Collins and courtesy runner Brittany Hale. Breshears tried to stretch it to third but got gunned down.
The Lady Bulldogs got to within a run in the top of the fifth.
With one out, Austin crushed a May offering for a double to right-center. With two outs, Ashley Kuhn laced a tough grounder to third, which was matron to first as courtesy runner Madison Trevino darted in to score. With Kuhn advancing to second, May worked out of the jam by getting Jordan Hightower to ground out.
Lady Bear leadoff hitter Julianne Viator singled to start the bottom of the first but was left stranded at first.
Nederland had somewhat of a threat in the top of the second.
Layken Richard had a hard leadoff single by third base and with two outs, she swiped second.
Austin came up and hit a smash to right field but Lady Bear right fielder Julianne Viator made an excellent stabbing catch to end it.
With one out in the top of the fourth, Lady Bulldog Jordan Bodin double to deep left-centerfield but was left stranded after May got Layken Richard to fly out and then May fanned Tayler Trojcak.
Now its on to Lumberton Tuesday in what has been a wild district ride for the Lady Bears.
“What can I say, the kids control their own destiny,” said Bridges. “We’ve knocked off Nederland and PN-G in the last week and dropped a tough one to Dayton last Tuesday. There are no easy outs in this district. It’s been wild and crazy and it’s far from over. We like the spot we’re in but the kids realize they still need to take care of business.”
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