South San and red-hot Highlands book postseason appearances in baseball

By Mike Considine

No stranger to the playoffs, Southwest’s softball team understands how important it is to take charge of a three-game series in Game 1. The Dragons (30-5) did exactly that Friday at the Mary Ann Villarreal Complex Field No. 1.

Southwest defeated Brandeis (20-8), the third place team from 27-5A, in a bi-district game. The series continues with 7 p.m. games Saturday and, if necessary, Monday at Villarreal No. 1.

The Dragons may have been the only local team to survive the opening night of the playoffs. The result of District 28-5A rival and co-champion East Central’s bi-district game against Warren were unavailable as of early Saturday morning.

The 28-5A baseball season came to the anticipated dramatic conclusion, but it was an anti-climax for two area teams. The third, South San, absorbed a loss in Corpus Christi in its finale – however, the Bobcats finished in a three-way tie for second place. Tie-breaking details are to be determined.

In a District 29-4A fourth-place tie-breaker, Highlands (8-17) scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to edge Lanier (9-15).

Highlands and South San (16-13-1, 5-5) became the last two local baseball teams to qualify for the playoffs. Earlier qualifiers were: Burbank, Central Catholic, Edison, Harlandale and McCollum.

Softball

Southwest

Junior pitcher Kamerie Vidales helped the Dragons overcome a 4-0 deficit to Brandeis after the first inning in Game 1.

Southwest cut the Broncos’ lead in half in the second inning. A four-run rally in the fifth assured the Dragons’ win. Southwest added two insurance runs in the sixth.

Vidales held Brandeis scoreless over the last six innings.

Edison

Clemens senior Samantha Moore pitched a no-hitter on her home diamond in Schertz as the Buffaloes shut out the District 29-4A champion Golden Bears.

Clemens scored individual runs in the first two innings and one more in the fifth. The Buffaloes assembled a three-run rally in the sixth to put the game away.

Edison finished 14-16-2.

Brackenridge

Lockhart (24-13) blanked the Eagles (14-16-1) 7-0 at the Northeast ISD’s East Field.

Lions senior pitcher Mikaela Flores, a playoff veteran, limited Brackenridge to one hit. Lockhart scored in the first five innings, including three runs in the second. The Lions had 10 hits.

Jefferson

Hays (27-4-1), No. 16 in the Texas Girls Coaches Association state 4A poll, downed Jefferson (13-16) 12-0 Friday in Buda. Further details about the Class 4A bi-district game were unavailable.

Baseball

Highlands/Lanier

The Owls forced a fourth-place tie-breaker Thursday with a win over Brackenridge and carried the momentum into Friday’s game at SAISD Field No. 1.

Highlands reached the bi-district playoffs for the first time in seven years. It’s worth noting that the last six years were spent in Class 5A.

Lanier scored the first two runs, in the second and fourth innings. The Owls closed to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. They sent the game into extra innings with a run in the fifth.

The Voks went down fighting. They took the lead with a run in the top of ninth, before Highlands struck for two for the walk-off win.

Owls junior Steven Martinez was the winning pitcher.

South San

The Bobcats couldn’t recover after Corpus Christi Carroll (19-9, 5-5) scored five runs in the first two innings at Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi.

South San shared second place in 28-5A with Carroll and Corpus Christi King (15-12-1, 5-5).

The Bobcats received one hit apiece from senior Juan DeAlejandro, Adam Rodriguez and Nick Herrera. Starting pitcher Joseph Valle struck out six, but was charged with Carroll’s first five runs.

Southwest

The Dragons (12-13, 4-6) led 2-1 after an inning and tied the score 3-3 in the bottom of the second, but 28-5A champion Steele (18-12, 8-2) outlasted them Friday at Southwest.

Southwest fell behind 6-3 in the third. The Knights scored in the next two innings before the Dragons scored two of their own in the fifth.

John Cummins drove in two runs and was the winning pitcher for Steele.

East Central

King defeated the Hornets (13-12-2, 3-7) in a high-scoring game at East Central. The Mustangs mustered 16 hits, including a home run from Benny Zamudio in the 18-8 decision.

East Central scored two runs in the bottom of the first to take the lead and finished with nine hits. King scored its runs in bunches. The outbursts included six in the second, seven in the fourth and five in the fifth, which ended the game due to the 10-run rule.

The Hornets were within 6-4 after four innings. They also rallied to score three runs in the fourth, to make the score 13-7.