Prosper Walnut Grove sure doesn’t look like a first-year varsity softball program. Not with 30 straight wins, a No. 4 state ranking and a first-round playoff sweep.
Kailee James and Ella Berlage hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the third as District 10-5A champion Walnut Grove beat The Colony 3-2 on Saturday to sweep the best-of-3 Class 5A first-round playoff series. Walnut Grove (33-2) hasn’t lost since Feb. 16 and will play 12-5A No. 3 seed West Mesquite in the second round.
In the first year that the school has been open, Walnut Grove has outscored the opposition 339-91. Berlage now has nine home runs, second on the team behind Lyndsey Hooker’s 11.
Naomi Redman pitched the first three innings, allowing two runs, before Jeslyn Burghardt pitched four scoreless innings of relief.
Walnut Grove took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but The Colony tied it with a two-out RBI single by Betty Jo Camacho in the second and then took a 2-1 lead on an RBI double by Leanna Guerra in the top of the third. James led off the bottom of the third with a home run and Berlage followed with a solo shot of her own.
The Colony had plenty of chances, stranding three runners without scoring in the first, leaving the bases loaded in the third and stranding runners at second and third without scoring in the sixth. A double and a walk put runners at first and second with one out in the seventh, but a double play ended the game and the series.
Plano West 8, Allen 0: A day after getting no-hit, Plano West bounced back and scored six runs in the bottom of the first and pounded out 12 hits in the game to win the decisive Game 3 in a best-of-3 first-round 6A playoff series.
Plano West eliminated an Allen team that was ranked No. 5 in the Dallas area as Carra Cleaves pitched a four-hit shutout and Kaaya Mehta was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Plano West (22-12-1), the No. 3 seed from District 6-6A, will play 8-6A champion South Grand Prairie in the second round.
Plano West had only one base runner in Friday’s 11-0 loss in Game 2 of the series, but in the first inning Saturday it produced five hits, a walk and a hit batter — all after the first two hitters in the inning were retired. Mehta and Brooke Reasoner hit back-to-back RBI doubles, Abby Cuellar added an RBI single and Cleaves hit a three-run, bases-loaded triple.
RBI singles by Abby Jennings and Mehta in the sixth finished off the scoring. Plano West had lost four straight entering the playoffs, allowing 20 runs in the process, but it allowed two runs total in its two wins over Allen (27-9-1).
South Grand Prairie 7, Richardson Pearce 0: Jernie Nerio pitched her second straight shutout in the series, this time throwing a two-hitter and striking out seven as SGP swept the 6A series.
Jasmyn Lloyd was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI and Alex Stone also had three hits and an RBI. SGP (21-12-2) has won nine in a row and 16 of its last 17 games after a 5-11-2 start.
Flower Mound Marcus 5, Prosper 1: Makenna Barr hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the third and the next batter, Emily Souders, followed with a solo homer to propel the area’s seventh-ranked 6A team to a two-game sweep.
Souders was 3-for-3 and Chloe Poteete pitched a five-hitter and struck out eight for District 6-6A champion Marcus (23-9-2). Marcus has won 12 in a row and has allowed just 21 runs during the streak.
Southlake Carroll 9, Fort Worth Boswell 4: Kelli Warden had an RBI double and Sammy Petkus and Jordan Stewart added RBI singles in a five-run top of the fourth as Southlake Carroll won Game 3 in its 6A series.
Carroll, ranked No. 6 in the area, will play El Paso Montwood in the second round. After Boswell closed to within 6-4 with a three-run fifth, Carroll added three runs in the sixth with the help of an RBI single by Emmy May.
Keller 11, Fort Worth Paschal 1: Carley Genzer homered and drove in three runs and Annsley Groce scored three runs as the area’s second-ranked 6A team won Game 3 and advanced to play El Paso Eastwood in the second round.
Keller (23-8-2), a 6A Region I finalist last year, got three hits and two RBIs from Lauren Kavanaugh and two RBIs apiece from Mackenna Jackson and Tarleton State signee Sadie Beck. Beck also pitched a four-hitter and struck out six.
Keller Timber Creek 6, Weatherford 2: Senior Izzy Bojkovic had three RBIs and broke the school record for career RBIs as Timber Creek (20-13-2) won Game 3 of the 6A series and advanced to play Wolfforth Frenship in the second round. She now has 127 RBIs.
Lovejoy 7, Corsicana 0: Izzy Guarriello pitched a three-hit shutout and struck out 10 as Lovejoy extended its winning streak to 13 games and swept a 5A first-round playoff series.
Guarriello’s masterpiece came after Gisela Boitmann threw a one-hit shutout in Game 1 on Thursday, striking out 16. Lovejoy (20-10-1), the No. 6 team in the 5A-others area rankings, will play Lufkin in the second round.
Lovejoy took advantage of nine walks and made the most of its five hits as Guarriello was 3-for-3 with an RBI double and Boitmann added an RBI double. Kamryn Messick had three stolen bases and scored two runs.
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