By Cody Pastorella
The Port Arthur News
May 15, 2008 10:53 pm
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PEARLAND -- Forget what has happened so far this season. Forget records and district standings. That is the mission statement Nederland head coach Sissy Yeaman wants her Lady Dogs to remember going into tonight's 7 p.m. best-of-three series opener with the Hunstville Lady Hornets at Pearland's Dawson High School.
If there was an actual memorandum from Yeaman, it would probably include intentions that Nederland does not become satisfied with beating Richmond Foster to move onto the fourth round of the Class 4A softball playoffs.
"We have to stay focused and play like we have been playing," said Yeaman whose team improved to 25-8-1 after victories of 2-0 and 4-0 against Foster.
Beating Foster was a big deal for Nederland. Foster ousted the Lady Dogs in the same round of the playoffs a year ago. Winning this year was pay back and the Lady Dogs were all business and very convincing.
Advancing to the fourth round is also a big deal for Nederland. The fourth round is the farthest the Lady Dogs have been since a state run in 1998 where Nederland came out from the depths of third place in its respective district that season.
Oddly enough, Huntsville just happens to be a third-place team out of District 18-4A.
So what else would the mission statement say?
Yeaman would probably explain to her players that Huntsville has just one senior in its program and needed ample time to mature as a team.
"They are talented and are peaking at just the right time," Yeaman said. "We have to forget about their record (18-15) and forget about where they finished in district. They are a very good team and we know this is going to be a tough matchup. Anytime you get this far in the playoffs, you are a good team."
Huntsville finished in a tie for 18-4A's third and final playoff spot at the end of the regular season. Since winning that play-in game, Huntsville has gone 5-1 and has knocked off the No. 2 ranked Brenham Lady Cubs (the 18-4A champs) in a 2-0 decision last weekend.
In their regular season meetings, the Lady Cubs smashed Huntsville 17-4 and 9-3 respectively.
"To turn around and overcome those kind of losses and to get a win against a top-ranked team, the same team that beat you those first two times, that says a lot for what kind of ball they are playing right now," Yeaman said.
"We know they are coming off a huge win and have a lot of momentum going into this series, so it's important that we go out and continue to play with the same kind of intensity that we've played with so far this season."
Yeaman said Huntsville is led by its sophomore pitcher Shelby Smith, junior catcher Nina Gibson and shortstop Sara Vaughn. Against Brenham, Huntsville posted five hits in the one-game playoff. Haley Tatom and Michelle McGill each went 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Nederland blew down Foster like the Big Bad Wolf. Senior pitcher Caitlin Austin tossed her 11th and 12th shutouts of the season, picking up 16 strikeouts over those two wins.
Austin is 18-5 for the season with an ERA of 0.44. She has surrendered just 68 hits in 174 innings pitched while striking out 255 batters. Foster managed just one hit in each game against Austin. For the playoffs, she has surrendered one run while piling on a staggering 57 Ks.
If this level of production continues, Austin might just have something more tangible to add to her statistical resume, something that says state champions and will fit on one of her fingers.
Austin will be putting her streak of 36 innings of scoreless ball on the line tonight. Game 2 is set to start at 5 p.m. Friday and if necessary, Game 3 will follow. All games will be in Pearland.
As far as hitting goes, Nederland picked up the pace in the series with Foster, collecting six hits in each game. That was quite the turn around from the Lady Dogs' second round series with Brazosport. Nederland needed extra innings to beat Brazosport 1-0 in back-to-back games in that round.
For the year, junior shortstop Ashliegh Kuhn has a .364 average with a team-high 28 RBIs.
Senior third baseman Tayler Trojcak is hitting better than .300 and has 27 RBIs. She also tripled in two runs on in Friday's Game 2 win over Foster. Jordan Bodin and freshman Layken Richard are each batting over .300 as well.
Directions to Dawson High School:
- Take 45 South
- Exit Sam Houston Tollway/Beltway 8, go west (right)
- Exit TX-35, go south on TX-35 (towards Pearland)
- Take 35 through Pearland
- Take a right on Bailey Road (stoplight after Pearland High School)
- The field is on the right about 1 mile down Bailey Road.
- 4717 Bailey Road in Pearland, TX 77584
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