By Cody Pastorella
The Port Arthur News
May 21, 2008 08:49 pm
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Two more wins and Nederland’s Lady Bulldogs are headed to the state tournament in Austin for the first time since 1998.
Getting those two victories in a best of three series against Barbers Hill won’t come easy, however.
Barbers Hill, winners of 24-4A, might just be a mirror image of Nederland softball. Lady Dogs head coach Sissy Yeaman said the Lady Eagles (28-8-1) have great pitching, good fielding and solid hitting.
That's a pretty good description of Yeaman's team as well. Nederland (27-7-1) certainly has great pitching in Caitlin Austin. Austin is 20-5 on the year and is 6-1 in the playoffs. For the season, her ERA is 0.46.
For the playoffs, if you can believe it, her ERA is 0.27. She has given up just two runs on 17 hits and has tossed five shutouts in the post season, including one over Huntsville in Saturday's 4-0 win that moved the Lady Dogs to the fifth round of the Class 4A playoffs.
For the year, Austin has tossed 13 shutouts. She has 276 strikeouts in 188 innings pitched. She has 76 Ks in the postseason.
Remarkably enough, the Lady Eagles pitching is just as impressive. Chandler Hall, who is 16-4 on the season, has a 0.45 ERA with 299 Ks.
Yeaman said Hall is tough and that it will be very important for Nederland to lay off her rising fastballs.
What perhaps is even scarier about Hall is that her 299 Ks have come in 109 innings. Hall also bats and seems to do it with ease.
Barbers Hill has four regulars batting over .300, including Hall, who boasts a stunning .591 average.
Karrah Campbell is batting .333 and Whitney Miller is batting .344. Hall bats second, Miller third and Campbell fourth.
Yeaman said the 2, 3 and 4 hitters are the key to the Lady Eagles lineup and having success against them will go along way for Austin and the Lady Dogs.
Nederland and Barbers Hill met three times earlier this season. The first two were scheduled exhibitions. The Lady
Eagles won both with scores of 1-0 and 6-5 respectively. The third matchup ended in a 0-0 tie.
Barbers Hill's 6-5 victory took 12 innings to decide. Hall recorded 22 Ks in nine innings of that contest.
While Nederland is 0-2-1 against the Lady Eagles, each game was obviously close and the Lady Dogs now have another a level of playoff confidence to hang their collective hats on.
Game 1, today at 7 p.m., will be at Barbers Hill High School. Because of a coin flip going in the favor of the Lady Dogs,
however, Game 2, and if necessary, Game 3 will both be in Nederland.
Game 2 is set to start at 7 p.m. Friday, while Game 3 would be at 5 p.m. Saturday.
"It's going to be an exciting series," Yeaman said. "It's going to come down to whichever team can get runners on base and then which team gets the timely hits. It's going to be a real battle. You have two tough teams — teams that know what they need to do to win. It should be fun to watch."
Yeaman added that while it's important to take one game at a time, she is pleased to have the possible Game 3 at Nederland.
"It's really great for the girls and the community to have the chance to play here at least one game and possibly a second. Knowing that we're going home for those games definitely adds to the excitement.
“The girls are excited about playing at Barbers Hill. We have played there several times and I think we are pretty comfortable on that field."
For Nederland, Ashleigh Kuhn continues to lead the team in hitting. She is batting .400 in the postseason and is hitting .379 for the year. She also leads the team with 29 RBIs. Tayler Trojcak, who is slightly under .300 for the year, has 28 RBIs. Jordan Bodin has 20 RBIs and is hitting .310 on the year.
The Lady Dogs will have to do a better job against Hall than Montgomery. The Lady Eagles beat Montgomery 1-0 and 6-0 to advance to the fifth round.
Game 1 of that series took 15 innings before Barbers Hill broke the 0-0 tie.
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