BRIDGE CITY — Proving once again that they are the team still to beat in District 22-4A, the defending 22-4A champion Lady Cardinals turned back the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears 2-0 in front of a capacity crowd at Lady Cardinal Field Tuesday night.

Bridge City senior ace Kassidy Wilbur continued her mastery of the Lady Bears as she tossed a complete-game one-hitter, fanning 19 in the process while just walking two.

In her last two starts, including a 1-0 victory over Silsbee last Friday, Wilbur has allowed just three hits and has struck out 34 in 14 innings of fabulous work.

The Lady Bears (18-2, 3-1), who entered the game ranked No. 1 in the Class 4A state poll, have never defeated Wilbur once since she became dominant going all the way back to her freshman season.

The Lady Cardinals (18-7, 4-0) were able to scrape in a couple runs off LC-M standout ace Brianna Frenzel to nab the victory.

Frenzel pitched well, allowing just four hits while striking out four and walking three. Bridge City’s Chloe Halliburton and Natalie Reed played major roles for both the Lady Cardinal runs.

The Lady Cardinals got what was the only run they actually needed in the bottom of the second.

Chloe Halliburton was able to slap a leadoff double. Reed then put down a nice bunt and an errant Lady Bear throw to first allowed Halliburton to race in and score.

The Lady Cardinals added some insurance in the bottom of the sixth frame.

Aleah McClanahan drew a one-out walk and zipped to second off a nice sacrifice bunt by Halliburton. Reed was able to punch in McClanahan with a sharp RBI to centerfield.

The Lady Bears threatened in the top of the first as Renna Toomey walked, swiped second and went to third on an error with two outs but was left stranded as Wilbur struck out Jonee Villanueva.

Frenzel put down a Lady Cardinal threat in the bottom of the first.

Caitlyn Dennison had a two-out single to right centerfield and Kyndall Harrison reached on an infield single and each advanced a base off a wild Frenzel pitch.

Frenzel got out of the jam by getting McClananhan to fly out.

Brianna Frenzel drew a leadoff walk for LC-M to start the fourth and courtesy runner Emily Landry swiped second with two outs to get in scoring position but Wilbur struck out Jaycee Perry to get out of it.

Lady Bear Ally White collected her teams’ only hit, ripping a hard leadoff single to leftfield only to be stranded as Wilbur got the next three LC-M batters to whiff.

Both teams, who each advanced all the way to the 4A Region III semifinals last season, will battle again Thursday when LC-M welcomes the Lady Cardinals to Lady Bear Field.