By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

 

JASPER — The District 22-4A champion Bridge City Lady Cardinals opened up their playoff campaign Friday night with a Class 4A Region III shutout of the Jasper Lady Bulldogs 6-0 at Jasper High School as the Lady Cardinals looked good in heading to the next round.

Senior ace Kassidy Wilbur was the starter for the Lady Cardinals, and won this game through the grounder and pop-up for the most part.

For those who have seen Wilbur before, they know that she would normally rack up the strikeouts. This is good though, it shows that she can pitch her way out of most situations and will build confidence moving forward in the playoffs.

Wilbur went the distance while allowing only one hit all game on Jasper’s home turf. She finished the night with one hit, 11 strikeouts, one walk and zero runs allowed as the Lady Cardinals improved to 26-7 on the campaign.

They will move on to face Liberty (21-11) in the area round next week. Liberty, the runnerup out of District 21-4A, hammered Houston Yates 14-0 in the bidistrict round.

Jasper’s Lannie Segrest went the full length as well, but allowed 11 hits, six runs, two strikeouts and five walks on the night as the Lady Bulldogs wrapped up their season with a 19-13 mark.

The Lady Cardinals jumped to a very early offensive stance with quick runs in the first inning. Both Wilbur and Abby Anderson singled and score to lead off the inning, thanks to a Kyndall Harrison single to drive them as the Lady Cardinals snagged a 2-0 lead after the first half inning.

Bridge City struck again in the top of the second. Wilbur knocked in Austyn Daniels thanks to an error on the throw to first. They almost scored a second run but was gunned down at home on the throw but the Lady Cardinals took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second.

Natilee Reed brought in the next Lady Cardinal run on a long single to right bringing in Kyndall Harrison from second base. That’s all they would find in the inning, but extended their cushion to 4-0 after two and a half innings.

Caitlin Denison sent Wilbur home, after a leadoff double, for the fifth run of the game. Harrison then knocked in Abby Anderson from second, after she reached on a hard infield single. The first four batters in the fourth inning all get hits. Those would be the only two runs scored off the four early hits, but the Lady Cardinals took a 6-0 lead in the middle of the fourth inning and theLady Bulldogs simply could not touch Wilbur.