Lady Mustangs take out Bay City to advance to area round

May 4, 2010

FRIENDSWOOD — The Friendswood Lady Mustangs took at the Bay City Black Cats 8-1 in the first game of the best-of-three series, but found out why teams elect to play a series and not just one game.

Despite the lopsided first game loss, Bay City came back to take the second game 3-2 to force a third and decisive game to see which team would advance to the area round.

It took eight innnings in the third and final contest, but the Lady Mustangs held strong to pull out the 1-0 win to advance to the next stage.

Rylie Kohls' bloop single into left field plated Carrie Flores and gave Friendswood a 1-0 eight-inning victory over Bay City in the hard-fought contest.

“This is a good win for the girls and a good win for our program,” Friendswood coach Kevin Parr said. “I think the heat took its toll on us, but the emotions of the game were even more draining. The girls battled through it, and as a result, they are moving on in the playoffs.”

Kelly Smith, as she has done all seaosn, pitched strong all three games for the Lady Mustangs. In Game 3, she allowed just four hits with three walks and seven strikeouts, but her teammates were able to get too much going on offense to support her.

Friendswood managed only three hits in seven innings while leaving seven runners on base.

In the eighth inning, Friendswood finally got something going against Bay City pitcher Ashley Montoya. Flores and Lauren Massar each got infield singles to start the inning. That prompted Bay City (17-13) to intentionally walk Lindsey Davis and load the bases for Kohls.

On the second pitch of the at-bat, Kohls dropped it in over the shortstop’s head. The celebration began as Friendswood won in its first playoff series since 2007.

“I had a lot of confidence with Rylie hitting,” Parr said. “I knew, realistically, she could get something into the outfield. I had already decided, even if it was an out, I was going to send the run and make (Bay City) make a play.”

Kohls had a big day at the plate, going 4-for-7 in the two games Saturday. Massar, Flores, Davis and Kelsey Eubanks each had two hits on the day.

For the series, Smith allowed no earned runs on 12 hits with 26 strikeouts in 22 innings.

Now, the Lady Mustangs will get ready to face Houston Austin in the area round in a best-of-three series.

Austin beat Houston Sterling 11-0 in the bi-district round. While Parr is not going to allow his girls to get overconfident -- the Lady Mustangs play in one of the toughest leagues in the area and Friendswood should be heavily favored to take care of the Lady Bulldogs and move on to the next round - especially with home field advantage.

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