Lady Bears in playoffs, win 8-5 over Vidor

Van Wade
The Orange Leader

LITTLE CYPRESS Sat, May 17 2008

— Using a big five-run third inning, the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears clinched a playoff spot by downing the Vidor Lady Pirates 8-5 at Lady Bear Field Friday night.
The Lady Bears (20-7, 10-4) rallied from a 4-1 deficit to snag the win to earn the third-place playoff spot out of District 22-4A.
The Lady Bears will face District 21-4A runnerup Crosby in the Class 4A Region III bidistrict round next week.
LC-M picked up eight hits against Vidor ace Emalee Kennon to seal the win.
Debra Hamor hurled the first three innings for the Lady Bears, allowing four hits while striking out three and walking two. Erin May closed the deal in the final four innings, allowing two hits while striking out five and walking one.
“The kids are very excited about making the playoffs,” said Lady Bear coach Thomas Bridges, who has watched his young squad win nine out of their last 10 games after starting district with a 1-3 mark. “The thing that impressed me the most tonight was how our bats woke up. We’ve struggled at the plate a little lately so it was great to see them come through.”
The Lady Pirates finished the 22-4A season with a 5-9 mark.
“Vidor came out and hit the ball well,” said Bridges. “They have a team that can really put the ball in play, plus we made a few boo-boos in the field, the kind you can’t make in the playoffs.”
Vidor struck for two quick runs off LC-M starter Hamor in the top of the first frame.
Emalee Kennon drew a leadoff walk and with two outs, Miranda Ryder crushed a pitch to the wall in centerfield for a run-scoring triple, bringing Kennon in. Loreal Park promptly brought home Ryder with a double to center to give the Lady Pirates a 2-0 advantage.
The Lady Bears drew to within one in the bottom of the second.
Katie Harrell drew a leadoff walk. With one out, Madison Cole singled hard up the middle and Hamor followed with a nice double to left to bring in Harrell. Kennon got out of the inning by getting Cole out at home after a bunt right in front of home plate by Roni Adams. She then got Julianne Viator to ground out to end the inning.
Vidor picked up two runs in the top half of the third inning.
Kennon had a leadoff single to shallow right and Morgan Castle had an infield hit barely over Hamor's head. Alexa Kelly then put down a superb sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. Ryder drove in her second run of the game, scoring Kennon with a sacrifice fly to right and Castle eventually darted home on a wild Hamor pitch to push the Lady Pirate lead to 4-1.
The Lady Bears exploded for four hits and benefited from three Lady Pirates as well to score five runs in the bottom of the third.
Jessica Wells led off with a double to right and went to third on a wild Kennon pitch. Wells trimmed the margin to 4-2 when she scored on a grounder by Britni Collins that was mishandled at shortstop.
Katye Harris had a single past second and Harrell drew a walk to load the bases. Alyssa Breshears roped an infield single that scored Collins and courtesy runner Brittany Hale also scored on a throwing error at home to knot the game at 4-4.
Cole then picked up her second hit of the contest when she sliced a two-run single to right to plate both Harrell and Breshears for a 6-4 LC-M edge.
LC-M put up two more runs in the fourth.
Wells had a leadoff bunt single and swiped second and went to third on a Collins groundout. Harris reached by getting hit by a Kennon pitch. Wells made it 7-4 when courtesy runner Hale swiped second and the pickoff throw went into centerfield as ells scored on an error. Hale went to third after the error and eventually scored on an RBI groundout by Harrell.
The Lady Pirates added a run in the top of the seventh when Kennon got all the way to second after an error and eventually scored on an error at shortstop off a Alexa Kelly grounder.
Now the Lady Bears will draw their attention to Crosby.
“From what we understand they (Crosby) have an excellent pitcher,” Bridges said. “Their coach wants to play a one-game playoff and we want two-out-of three. We’ll end up flipping and see how that goes. I hate gambling, but you have to in that kind of deal.”