KIRBYVILLE – It was tough sledding for the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears Thursday night as they fell to the Huntington Lady Devilettes 9-4 in Game One of their best-of-three Class 4A regional quarterfinal series at Kirbyville High School.
The Lady Devilettes out hit the Lady Bears 10-1 and LC-M made five crucial errors.
LC-M will look to bounce back Saturday in Game Two at noon at Jasper High School with Game Three hopefully to follow.
Huntington pitcher Raegyn Parrish went the full seven innings in allowing the one hit, a Madison Murdock single to lead off the bottom of the second. She finished with four strikeouts, walked three and hit three batters with her only tough inning coming in the fourth when LC-M scored three runs thanks to three walks and two hit batters.
Brianna Frenzel absorbed the loss for the Lady Bears as she worked five innings, allowing eight hits while striking out seven and walking three. Jenna James tossed the final two frames, allowing two hits while striking out four.
Trailing 4-3 entering the top of the sixth, the Lady Devilettes put together six runs on four hits and took advantage of three LC-M errors to blow open the game, scoring all six runs with two outs.
Parrish and Jenna Flournoy got it going with back to back singles to shallow left and Alyssa Dickerson walked to load the bases.
Alex Gee reached on an error at short as Parrish scored to tie it up and Tannah Colson reached on an error at short to score Flournoy. Amber Kirkland followed with a two-run single to center and Shelby Wagner capped the scoring with a deep two-run triple to right.
Huntington pulled to within 4-3 in the top of the fifth when Colson reached on an infield single and scored on a two-out single to left by Kirkland.
The Lady Bears erased a 2-1 deficit in the bottom of the fourth as Parrish got a little wild from the hill.
Frenzel drew a leadoff walk and courtesy runner Kaitlyn Huff swiped second and went to third on a wild pitch.
With one out Ashley Short reached by getting hit with a pitch and swiped second. Olivia Leavings followed with a walk to load the bases.
James drew a bases-loaded walk that scored Huff to tie it. Jonee Villanueva was clipped by a Parrish pitch as Short put the Lady Bears up 3-2. Joanna Henry was able to bring courtesy runner Emily Landry home with a fielder’s choice.
The Lady Devilettes went up 2-0 in the top of the first inning.
Colson had a one-out triple to right centerfield and Kirkland drew a walk. That set up a RBI double to left center by Wagner. With two outs, courtesy runner Sydney Lewing scored on a wild pitch.
LC-M snagged a run in the bottom of the third.
Henry was able to get all the way to second after she hit a grounder to third that was overthrown at first. A Murdock groundout moved Henry to third as Henry was able to score on a wild pitch.
The winner of the LC-M-Huntington series will take on either state-ranked No. 1 Liberty Hill or Robinson in the regional semifinals next week.