Southwest softball bows to New Braunfels Canyon in marquee area series

THIS STORY CONTAINS INFO ABOUT: Edison baseball, Central Catholic baseball and Southwest softball.

FOR A FULL STORY ON THE BURBANK-HAYS BASEBALL PLAYOFF SERIES (May 3-4, 2013), click here:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Burbank-boys-fall-to-Hays-in-playoffs-4492369.php

FOR INFO ABOUT: McCollum baseball, South San baseball, Harlandale baseball, Highlands baseball, and East Central softball, click here:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Sports-roundup-4492360.php

By Mike Considine

Baseball

Edison

The Golden Bears (15-15) , the No. 3 seed from District 29-4A, went out like the senior-dominated team they are.

Edison tied the score twice in the early going and rallied for three runs in the seventh Friday at SAISD Field No. 1, but couldn’t extend their Class 4A bi-district series to the limit. Kerrvillle Tivy handed Edison a heart-breaking loss 7-6.

The Golden Bears tied it 2-2 in the bottom of the third inning. Edison also responded in the fourth after the Antlers had broken the tie for a 3-2 lead in the top of the inning. But Tivy again took a one-run lead in the fifth and added three more runs in the top of the seventh.

Edison rallied for three runs of its own to close within a run in the bottom of the inning, but couldn’t score the equalizer. Tivy took the lead on an unearned run.

Kerrville Tivy won the opening game in the best-of-three series 6-0 Thursday in Kerrville.

Antlers pitcher Payeton Becker shut out the Golden Bears, allowing four hits.

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.

Central Catholic

The Buttons (22-9-1) ended their season last Wednesday with a 6-3 loss at Houston St. Thomas (26-6) in the TAPPS Class 5A area round.

St. Thomas is coached by former Houston Astros all-star Craig Biggio.

Rawlings Elam, Greg Hoffman and Cavan Biggio, the coach’s son, all had two hits for the Eagles. Hunter Pallasch hit a home run and drove in three runs.

Softball

Southwest

New Braunfels Canyon (31-5) closed out the Class 5A area-round battle of two of the best teams in the metroplex, defeating the Dragons (31-7) 8-6 Friday at Southwest.

Canyon, No. 2 in the Express-News area rankings, staked out an eight-run lead in the first five innings behind senior pitcher Marilee Burge. The Cougars took the lead with help from a solo home run by Bianca Prada and a four-run outburst in the fifth.

They had to hold off a furious rally by the Dragons, who seldom lose on their home field, thereafter. No. 4 Southwest began its comeback with senior shortstop Miranda Medina’s 10^th home run of the season in the sixth inning.

Trailing 8-2, the Dragons got another home run from catcher Gabby Flores in the seventh. Consecutive doubles from Amanda Sanchez and Elizabeth Phillips, followed by a run-scoring Canyon error brought Southwest within three runs. Freshman Caitlin Terrazas added another run with a two-out, RBI single.

Canyon ended the game on a ground out.

In Game 1, 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..

The loss ended Southwest’s five-game winning streak.