Published: April 21, 2008 06:05 pm            

Senior Wells ignites playoff-bound Lady Bears

LITTLE CYPRESS — It will be a new season come Friday night for the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears.

After a one-year absence, the playoff bug has bit the team again. LC-M is nearly two years removed from winning the Class 4A state championship in 2006.

Several Lady Bears remain off that elite title unit, including senior second baseman Jessica Wells.

“We’re so thrilled to be back into the playoffs,” said Wells. “We’ve played so well late in the season and hopefully we can continue to do that.”

The Lady Bears (20-7), the third-place unit out of District 22-4A, will take on seventh-ranked Crosby at 7 p.m. Friday at Silsbee High School in the 4A Region III bidistrict playoffs.

Wells understands that playoff games are little bit more nail-biting than the regular season.

“Playoffs is a whole different story,” said Wells. “Everything intensifies. You have to be on top of your game. Everything magnifies. Every little hit counts and every error counts.”

Wells has had her moments suiting out for the Lady Bears but this year has been special since becoming an every-day position player at second base has made her senior campaign a wonderful experience.

“To have a bigger role my senior has been awesome,” Wells said. “I really enjoyed being out there all the time. In the past, I’ve done whatever I could to help the team but it feels like I’ve really been able to contribute a lot this season.”

Wells is the only senior in the starting lineup for first-year coach Thomas Bridges.

“Jessica is a special kid that does everything that is asked of her,” said Bridges. “She’s been so consistent for us at second base. She never misses a practice and always seems to be the first one there. She’s not a real rah-rah type of kid, she leads by example.”

Wells had a huge Senior Night contest against Vidor in a playoff-clincing 8-5 victory at Lady Bear Field last Friday. Wells had a double, a perfect bunt single and scored two runs.

Wells is excited how the Lady Bears performed down the stretch of the season, winning nine of their last 10 22-4A games, including big wins over first-place Nederland and second-place Port Neches-Groves.

‘The biggest thing that helped us was learning to communicate better,” said Wells. “Once we got everything in step, we just took off. We realized that we could all lean on each other. Beating teams like Nederland and PN-G gave us a great bunch of confidence. We always knew we had it in us, we just had to go out and prove it.”

One thing for certain, Wells won’t forget that magical run to state as a sophomore.

“It was awesome to be a part of such a great team,” said Wells. “We had some super seniors on that team that really helped out us sophomores and freshmen that season and I hope I’m doing t˙e same with some of our sophomores and freshmen this year. That state experience is something I’ll never forget, an experience I’ll cherish for a lifetime.”

So how much noise can this year’s young Lady Bear team make?

“I really think we can surprise some teams,” said Wells. “We may have a young team but it’s one that has experience playing in some tough games. You’ve got to approach it one game at a time or one series at a time and have fun doing it.”

        

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