Lady Dogs take care of Grapeland to advance to regional quarterfinal
It did not take the No. 10 Thorndale Lady Dogs (19-6) long to defeat Grapeland in the two teams’ best-of-three area round Class 2A softball playoffs.
The Lady Dogs advance to play district foe Bremond in the regional quarterfinals. (This one-game playoff was played Wednesday, May 12 at Texas A&M’s David Diamond after Champion press time. A full game report will be in next week’s edition.) Bremond is the fourth place team out of 27-2A.
In the opening game of the Grapeland series, which was played at Madisonville High School, the Lady Dogs took just five innings to defeat Grapeland 15-5.
Each team scored a run in the first inning, with Grapeland taking a 5-4 advantage at the end of two. Thorndale the settled in and put up 11 runs in the next three innings and held Grapeland scoreless.
Thorndale put up 15 hits in the win.
Cassidy Eubanks and Bailee Baker connected for three hits each in the game, with Baker adding four runs batted in and Eubanks two RBIs.
Emilee Baker, Kelsey Kovar and Landri Martinka had two hits each, with Natalie Garcia, Reagyn Trahan and Emily Reeves all connected for one hit each. Emilee Baker (who had a triple and a double), Natalie Garcia and Kovar all had two RBIs each.
Dori Ginn tossed the win for the Lady Dogs, striking out two and walking six in five innings.
In the second game played on Saturday afternoon, Thorndale defeated Grapeland 23-5.
The Lady Dogs took an early 5-4 lead after the first inning, with Grapeland scoring a single run in the top of the second to tie things up.
Thorndale then broke the game wide open with 12 runs in the second inning. While holding Grapeland scoreless for the rest of the game, the Lady Dogs put up four runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth.
Thorndale put up 22 hits in the contest, including six home runs. Raeghan Carlson smashed three homers, with Trahan, Kovar and Reeves adding one apiece.
Emilee Baker tagged a triple, with Kovar adding two double and Bailey Baker and Garcia connecting for a double each.
Ginn got the win, seeing four innings of work with two strike outs. Eubanks got the start in the Saturday match up.
Grapeland was the third place team out of 25-2A, and the Lady Dogs are the undefeated 27-2A champions.
The winner of the Thorndale-Bremond game will face either Shiner or Ganado in the region semifinals. Shiner and Ganado are also in the same district, 29-2A.