Five area teams need a win tonight to continue seasons

By Mike Considine

The band Three Dog Night took its name from the Australian expression for an extremely chilly night. That was literally and figuratively what three area baseball teams and two local softball teams experienced Thursday.

None of the four local teams were winners in the first night of their best-of-three series. Furthermore, East Central’s softball team watched one of the best seasons in the school’s history come to an end.

Softball

Southwest

The Dragons (31-6), No. 4 in the Express-News area rankings, battled a tough New Braunfels Canyon (30-5) team hard before coming up on the short end in New Braunfels.

The second-ranked Cougars won 7-4 in the area-roundseries opener. The series resumes with a 7 p.m. game tonight at Southwest. If the Dragons win, the finale will take place 7 p.m. Saturday at Steele.

Canyon made it tough on Southwest early. They put up six of seven runs in the bottom of the first.

The Dragons narrowed the gap a bit with single runs in the second and third innings, but Canyon added an insurance run in the bottom of the third. Southwest scored its last two runs in the sixth..

Canyon’s Marilee Burge was the winning pitcher. The loss ended Southwest’s five-game winning streak.

East Central

East Central (21-12) found itself facing a deficit it couldn’t overcome not too far into its winner-take-all game against powerhouse Smithson Valley (21-7) Thursday at the Mary Ann Villarreal Complex Field No. 1. The Hornets lost 17-2.

The Rangers, No. 3 in the Express-News rankings, scored three runs in the first on a three-run home run by Celena Massey that rode a 40-mph wind out of the park. They added five in the second for an 8-0. Then they really got rolling.

Smithson Valley put the area-round game out of reach with a nine-run rally in the third, fed by two Hornets errors.

The Hornets scored both of their runs in the fourth inning. Sophomore Haydi Burgarin tripled and score d on an error. Classmate Madison Strunk added an RBI single.

They were limited to four hits by Rangers pitcher Ryan Mergele. Smithson Valley, which won the 2012 Class 4A title, had 15 in extending its winning streak to nine games.

East Central had won seven of its previous eight games. The Hornets advanced to the area round for the second time in three years.

Baseball

Burbank

The Bulldogs (13-15) weren’t able to score until the bottom of the seventh inning of their bi-district series opener at SAISD Field No. 1 Thursday.

Hays (18-9) took the lead in the best-of-three series with a 10-1victory.

The Rebels scored in the first inning and tacked on two more runs in the third. A four-run outburst in the sixth built an 8-0 lead for Hays. Granger Studdard hit a home run for Hays, which outhit Burbank 8-5.

The Bulldogs had won their previous three games.

The series moves to Hays’ home field in Buda for a 7 p.m. game tonight. If the Bulldogs win, the teams will return to the SAISD Complex for a 1 p.m. game Saturday.

Edison

Kerrville Tivy pitcher Payeton Becker shut out the Golden Bears (14-13) in the first game of the best-of-three series. Becker allowed four hits as the Antlers (21-7-1) claimed a 6-0 victory.

Tivy, which had 11 hits, never looked back after scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning in Kerrville. The Antlers increased their lead to 4-0 in the fifth and scored twice in the sixth.

The Antlers finished with 11 hits.

Edison returns home, looking for the equalizer in the bi-district series. The 7 p.m. game on SAISD Field No. 1 is part of a doubleheader at the complex. Highlands (8-17) will play Clemens (19-8-2) in a winner-take-all game at the same time on Field No. 2.

The final game of the Golden Bears-Tivy series is scheduled for noon Saturday in Kerrville.

McCollum

Gregory-Portland (22-7-1) scored eight runs in the first two innings Thursday at the Frank Tejeda Complex. The fast start helped the Wildcats defeat McCollum (22-5) 10-4 in the first game of a best-of-three series.

The Wildcats scored three runs in the first inning and erupted for five in the second inning, before the Cowboys scored their first run in the bottom of the second. McCollum closed within 8-4 in the sixth, but G-P scored twice in its half of the seventh.

The teams will take the day off Friday. The series resumes at noon Saturday at Gregory-Portland, with the third game to follow it, if necessary.