SOFTBALL UPDATE | White Oak takes lead on Tatum; Henderson-J’ville start Friday; Overton to face M. Mill, with send-off; Arp slips to ND
White Oak hasn’t lost a softball game since early March, since before spring break, and for some, the number 13 might be unlucky.
Not for the Ladynecks, though, who got their 13th straight win Thursday night, holding off scrappy Tatum, 1-0, in game one of a first-round, or bi-district round, in the University Interscholastic League’s Class 3A Softball Playoffs – a game between two programs in the ETBlitz.com coverage area.
The best-of-three-game series is being played in its entirety at Spring Hill High School in Longview.
White Oak, with a 26-7 record, has the all-important one-game lead in the series. Coach Ninevah Blankenship’s Ladynecks will have to win another to win the series, obviously – game two is Friday night at 5 p.m. Game three, if needed, would also be Friday, and would begin 30 minutes after game two.
Thanks in large part to pitchers Larkin Daniels of White Oak, and Tatum’s Noa Cart, the game remained scoreless until the sixth inning. The Ladynecks would score the game’s only run in the top of the sixth – Kylie Caraway, who had walked with two outs, then stole second, scored on an RBI double by Jaidyn Marshall.
In the bottom of the frame, Tatum’s Katie Propes reached on an error. Courtesy runner Jocelyn Infante stole second, then stole third, but with two outs, Daniels got a strikeout to end the inning. And she had a lot more than that: Daniels finished with 14 strikeouts in the complete-game win.
Cart took the loss for Tatum (9-25 this season), and had two strikeouts.
Overton to face Martin’s Mill in first round: Overton’s Lady Mustangs beat Hawkins on Tuesday in Tyler, 6-5, and are the District 19-2A champions!
The Lady Mustangs (left) will face Martin’s Mill in the first, or bi-district, round of the UIL Class 2A postseason, and that will be at Tyler Legacy’s field on Friday at 6 p.m. The address for Tyler Legacy’s softball stadium is 4500 Red Raider Drive, Tyler, 75703.
There’s a playoff send-off from downtown Overton at 3:30 p.m. – fans are asked to line the streets in front of Texas Bank & Trust and La Hacienda for the send-off.
Before the playoffs, though, Overton first had to beat Hawkins to earn the No. 1 spot in the district and break the tie.
It took some work to get there, but Kyuana Brown, a courtesy runner after Halle Mayfield was hit by a pitch to open the ninth inning, advanced when Avery Smith and Kayla Nobles both walked, as well, to load the bases.
Kasha Williams scored Brown on a sacrifice fly, giving Overton (22-8-1) the go-ahead and winning run, breaking that 5-5 tie.
Williams finished with a double, a single and the RBI. Kelsey Vaught had 13 strikeouts and allowed just three walks in nine innings pitched. Anna Perkins had two hits, and Nobles and Lila Gurley each had an RBI.
Kalyn Ellison took the loss for Hawkins.
Henderson, Jacksonville series begins Friday night: Henderson’s Lady Lions, who enter the UIL Class 4A playoffs as the second-place team from 17-4A, begin their postseason run Friday afternoon in Rusk, the neutral site against Jacksonville.
Game one of the best-of-three series between Henderson (21-9) and Jacksonville (18-13) will begin at 4:30 Friday afternoon. Game two will follow Friday night.
If a game three is needed, it’ll be at Jacksonville on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
The winner of the Henderson-Jacksonville series will face either Liberty (30-2) or Vidor (8-8) in round two, the area round.
Arp slips to New Diana: Arp’s softball season ended on Thursday in a UIL Class 3A single-game playoff at Tyler Legacy against New Diana’s Lady Eagles, a 12-5 loss.
Arp, the second seed from District 16-3A, were making their first playoff appearance since the 2017 season. The Lady Tigers, coached by Brandon Jones, finish the season with a 21-11 record. New Diana moves on to face the winner of the Mineola-Redwater best-of-three-game series.
Arp should be in good shape next year, though: the Lady Tigers had absolutely no seniors on their roster. They were led by sophomore Lacy Fletcher, who went into the game with 64 RBI – second in the state – and Addison Carpenter, a junior who was second in the state in runs scored.