NEW CANEY — Nederland's Caitlin Austin was not going to be denied in Thursday night's Game 1 matchup with Richmond Foster, a team that came into the contest with a 26-2 record and having beat the Lady Dogs in the third round of the Class 4A softball playoffs a year ago.

Foster won that series in two games with scores of 1-0 and 2-1.

It does not seem as if the Lady Dogs are willing to let that happen this year, however, as Austin dusted 10 Foster batters while surrendering just one hit enroute to Nederland's 2-0 win over the Lady Falcons.

With the win, Nederland improves to 24-8-1 on the season and will be back in action at 7 tonight in New Caney for Game 2. If it is necessary, Game 3 will be Saturday in the same location.

The Lady Dogs' two runs hardly clarifies the level of beating that Foster received. If it were not for a few base running mistakes from Nederland, the score very well could have been 10-0.

"We try not to harp on the negative at this point," said Nederland head coach Sissy Yeaman whose team is just one win away from reaching the fourth round. "We will take a win any way we can get it. I was just happy that we came out swinging, got some hits and pushed those runs across the plate. We definitely made some big mistakes that probably cost us a few more runs, but I am happy with our overall performance."

The Lady Dogs, who needed extra innings to win back-to-back 1-0 games on Saturday, pounded on Keely Shuler Thursday night for six hits and two runs. Shuler managed to strike out six Lady Dogs in the loss. But for a pitcher used to dominating Nederland hit her like a pinata.

Both of the Lady Dogs runs came in the third inning when Katelyn Worsham and Ashliegh Kuhn each scored.

It was an inning that could have been a lot worse for Shuler, as a sacrifice bunt flared off the bat of Nederland's Krista Mayer and ended in a double play.

The ball popped up to Foster's third baseman, who made the catch and flung the ball to second base to put out Tayler Trojcak. Trojcak walked to lead off the inning.

Worsham, who reached first base on a fielder's choice, was still at first after the double play.

After the failed bunt, Kuhn doubled to left to bring in Worsham for a 1-0 lead.

Then Kuhn scored from second off a single from Layken Richard to give the Lady Dogs a 2-0 advantage.

Nederland left two runners on base that inning and left seven on base altogether.

In the second inning, Jordan Hightower, who went 2-for-3 with two doubles in the contest, picked up the Lady Dogs' first hit.