Softball regional finals: Aledo advances to state tournament, Keller forces game three

The UIL high school softball regional finals continued on Friday, and Fort Worth-area teams are fighting for an opportunity to continue their season at the state tournament. Here is a roundup of Aledo and Keller’s playoff victories.

Aledo downs Burleson Centennial, punches ticket to state

Aledo built a comfortable lead heading into the last half of the sixth inning, but had to hold off a furious rally by Burleson Centennial to down the Spartans 12-7 and sweep the Class 5A Region I final series on Thursday at Spartan Field.

Aledo (35-3) defeated Centennial (30-9) 2-0 in a pitcher’s duel on Wednesday. This will be the seventh trip to the state tournament for the Bearcats who will be looking to claim a fourth state championship in softball.

This will be the third time in the past four season for the Bearcats to make it to Austin. The state tournament pairings will be released on Saturday, but Aledo will play in the state semifinals at either 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. on Friday, May 31.

The teams scored more runs in the first inning in Game 2 with a stiff breeze blowing out to left than the entirety of Game 1. Aledo’s Addie Perry sliced the second pitch of the game from Centennial starter Bailey Lindemuth over the left-center field wall for an early 1-0 lead.

“I was in there thinking that I would get a lead-off single to start the game off right, but sure enough, the wind caught my ball,” said Perry who is headed to the University of North Texas in the fall. “I haven’t hit a home run in a long time so it was awesome. It was a great way to start it off for sure and seeing my teammates waiting for me at the plate was awesome too.”

Lindemuth, a Texas Tech signee, made up for it, however, leading off the bottom of the first with a long home run of her own to tie the game 1-1. Liv Martin followed with a walk and two outs later scored when Hannah McCurry poked an RBI double to the wall in left center to make it 2-1 Spartans.

Aledo scored runs in four of the next five innings and chased Lindemuth with two out in the fourth inning leading 6-2. Ava Ellis came on to slow the Bearcats’ roll, but Aledo scored twice more in the sixth on an RBI double by Liliana Flores and a sacrifice fly by Kyleigh Pawlak to make it 8-2.

But Centennial wouldn’t go away despite Aledo starter Taylor McKean getting four consecutive three-up, three-down innings. The Spartans scored five runs on six hits with an Aledo error mixed in in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 8-7.

Centennial catcher Madelyn Hickey had the big blow in the inning with a three-run home run off of Brenlee Gonzales, who had just come in to relieve McKean.

The rally was countered by the Bearcats in the top of the seventh. Kennis Marx led off the inning with a long home run over the scoreboard in left.

“It was a really big moment,” said Marx, who hits seventh in the lineup. “My hitting has been a little bit rocky the last couple of games, but to come up in a pressure situation like that was really powerful.”

McKean, who’s headed to Tarleton State, followed with a lined shot over the left field wall to up the lead to 10-7. Flores capped a 3-for-5 day with a two-run homer off the “S” in “SPARTAN FIELD” on the scoreboard to make it 12-7 Bearcats.

“I’m very blessed to have the lineup that we have,” said Aledo coach Heather Myers, who’s in her ninth year at Aledo. “We don’t have any weak spots in our lineup so when people think the seven, eight and nine hitters are weaker hitters, that’s not the case for us.”

Myers said that after Centennial pulled to within a run that she joked with her team about how each series has had moments where games have been tight. She said that it got a giggle from her team and seemed to loosen them up.

“I told them that we’ve scored in every single inning today except one so let’s go put some runs back up on the board and have a little fun,” added Myers. “And they did.”

Gonzales, who will join Lindemuth at Texas Tech next season, retired the Spartans in order in the bottom of the seventh to start the celebration.

Perry finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored for Aledo and Flores scored three times and drove in four.

Aledo won state titles in 2008 and 2014 in Class 4A and repeated in 2015 in 5A. The Bearcats lost in the title game in 2021 and in the semifinals in 2022 under Myers.

“We’ve been there, we’ve knocked on the door and now we need to kick it open,” said Myers, who will be making her third trip to state with the Bearcats. “We’re going to have a lot of good competition that’s going to be there so we’re going to have to continue to be disciplined at the plate. Our pitchers can do it so they just need to keep working and if our defense steps up just a notch and makes the routine plays then it’s going to be hard to beat us.”

Keller bests Denton Guyer in thriller to force game three

Following a lopsided game one loss against Denton Guyer, Keller ace pitcher Sadie Beck needed a bounce back performance to keep her team’s season alive.

Beck has been the Indians’ driving force all season, and the team put their trust in her to give them a chance to force a regional final game three. Beck more than delivered, dominating the Wildcats to lead her squad to a 2-1 victory on Thursday at Coppell High School.

“She had gone through the fire before,” Keller head coach Chad Cribbs said. “We’ve been in a lot of elimination games in her career. … It just fires her up to get it done this time. So, she did a great job.”

Moderate rain started in the fifth inning, which made executing pitches more challenging for Beck. The rain picked up when Keller was on the field and slowed when they were at bat.

“We were a little a little worried but at the end of the day, control what we can control,” Cribbs said. “We chose pitches that [Beck] was confident in, and we worked our way around it. She did a great job and she stepped up.”

Beck allowed seven earned runs in four innings in game one. Game two was a much different story with Beck allowing one earned run and eight hits while battling the elements.

“It’s tough out there,” Beck said. “A little slippery on the hands and the ball, so having to throw the ball back to the umpire every pitch is not the greatest but you do what you’ve got to do to keep the game in control.”

She struck out nine and consistently found ways to hold Guyer runners in scoring position. Beck credited improved composure for her performance.

“Yesterday, whenever runners got on and they were scoring runs, we kind of folded and we didn’t respond,” Beck said. “And today we got the lead early. They came back but we just went back up there, got base runners, made things happen and stayed calm the whole time.”

Keller took the lead in the second inning when Annsley Groce hit a double to left and Lauren Kavanaugh advanced her with a single to center. Groce scored on a passed ball.

In the fifth inning, Guyer’s Kaylynn Jones sent a line drive to left for an RBI single to tie the game. But Keller responded in the bottom of the sixth with a double from Carley Genzer. Beamen advanced her to third and she scored on a passed ball.

Cribbs acknowledged that a few things went Keller’s way, including both runs being scored on passed balls. But at the end of the day, Keller put themselves in a position to succeed and “got it done.”

“We were fortunate with the past balls but we handled some adversity with weather,” Cribbs said. “We didn’t panic when people got on base. We were a much more composed team today, so very proud of them for that.”

Keller’s defense stepped up as well, with outfielders Cambree Cribbs and Maggie Crowe making impressive catches to hold Guyer runners.

“We had energy today that you didn’t see yesterday,” Cribbs said. “So, we’ve got to maintain the energy on Saturday to get a day of rest and then come back ready to go because they’re gonna be fired up.”

Game three is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Coppell High School, and there will be a coin toss to determine the home team. Cribbs said he wants to see his team bring the same energy with a state tournament appearance on the line.

“Leave it all on the field. That’s kind of what we talked about today. Leave it on the field, it can be the last one. So, same thing applies to the next one. Then you can go home with your head held high.”