Feb 07, 2012
Lady O's breeze past Baytown Lee in opening round
May 4, 2010
PEARLAND — The Lady Oilers played loose in their bi-district round of the playoffs and the 10-0 final score in five innings was proof that Pearland was ready to put that game behind them so they could begin to concentrate and get ready for the next round which won't be quite as easy.
Head coach Laneigh Clark knows the next test will be an indication of whether the defending Class 5A Region III champions will be able to capture another regional title and return back to the 5A state softball tournament where they dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker in the state finals last year.
The Lady Oilers now must face the Fort Bend Clements Lady Rangers who have one of the top pitchers in the state in Liz Paul who has signed to continue to play at the next level with the Baylor Lady Bears.
Paul was named District 23-5A Newcomer of the Year and second-team All-Greater Houston in 2008. In 2009, she was the district MVP, first-team All-Greater Houston, TGCA All-State and TSWA first-team All-State. Last season, Paul hit .489 with three home runs and 37 RBI, but was even more stellar in the circle, going 31-5 with a 0.88 ERA and 245 strikeouts.
Paul currently leads the Houston area with a 28-4 season record and with 349 strikeouts.
"Facing Clements and Liz Paul will definitely test how deep we will go in the playoffs," Clark said. "But we can't look beyond this next series or there will be no deep run. My girls will need to completely focus on Clements and no one else."
The game against Baytown Lee served as a mere warmup for the next round as junior righthander Jessica Bowden limited the Lady Ganders to only three hits in four innings with six strikeouts before junior righthander Brooke DuBois stepped in the pitching circle to silence Baytown Lee in the final frame.
I wanted to make sure that Jessica and Brooke got some reps in the game so they will be ready against Clements," Clark said.
Lauren Langner scored Pearland's first run in the opening inning with some gutsy base-running. After reaching base on an error, Langner stole second and then scored on a couple of throwing errors for a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Oilers added three more runs in the bottom of the second as Haley Beam, Sara Clements, and Alena Morena, who was a courtesy runner for Bowden, all scored. Baytown Lee helped with a pair of throwing errors.
Bowden reached base on a bunt single. Megan Coronado was safe on a fielder's choice and Leandra Maly singled to score courtesy runner Morena. Back-to-back singles by DuBois and Jaclyn Bechtel scored two more runs for a 7-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth.
The bottom of the fifth belonged to senior Destini Smith. After Moreno singled and moved to third on a double by Coronado, Smith blooped a double down the left field line to knock in both runs for a 9-0 lead. With some alert running, Smith motored across the plate on a pass ball for the 10th run to end the game with the 10-run mercy rule.
Pearland finished with 12 hits and 10 runs. Coronado was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Destini Smith was 1-for-1 with a double, two RBIs, and one run scored. Brooke DuBois was 2-for-3 with one RBI. Sara Clements was 2-for-2 with one run scored.
Pearland will face Clements on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (if needed).