Salado Lady Eagles will face China Spring in the Area Round of the UIL softball playoffs with a three-game series beginning May 3.
Games are scheduled to be played at the Waco ISD Sports Complex (1401 S. New Road) at 7 p.m. May 3 and 11 a.m. May 5 with the third game (if necessary) to follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of the second.
China Spring, the third place team from District 17-4A, beat Mexia, the second place team from District 18-4A, in two games: 6-1 and 11-0.
Salado swept Navasota in the Bi-District round of the playoffs, ending both games by the Run Rule with victories of 10-0 on April 26 and 14-1 on April 28.
Liberty Hill, the runner up in Salado’s District 19-4A, beat Giddings 5-1 and will face Gatesville in the Area Round.
Lampasas (third place in District 19-4A) lost to Caldwell 15-10 and 12-6 in the Bi-District round and Leander Glenn (fourth place in District 19-4A) lost to LaGrange 7-1 in the Bi-District round.
Salado 14
Navasota 1
Salado Lady Eagles had 16 hits in their dominant series clinching win over Navasota, beating Navasota 14-1 in six innings.
Bailey Tindell allowed just two hits for Salado (including a solo homer), striking out six batters and walking none to get the win on the mound for the Lady Eagles.
In typical fashion, Piper Randolph started off the scoring for Salado in the first. She hit a single to centerfield, stole second and third base and scored on a passed ball for a 1-0 lead.
Salado added two more in the second. Rylee Oborski doubled to deep left, followed by another shot for two bases to deep left by Marissa Gonzales. Gonzales went to third on a passed ball and scored on a two-out single to center by Janiah Del Rio for a 3-0 lead.
Breigh Oliver doubled to left with one out in the third. She stole third and scored on an error.
In the fourth, Gonzales walked and advanced on a single by Erin Faske. She stole third and scored on a single by Del Rio. Del Rio stole second and third base, scoring on a two-out single by Randolph.
Navasota got on the board with a solo homerun by Samantha Harris.
The Lady Eagles added four more runs in the fifth. With one out, Chris Wilson singled to left. Oborski walked. Gonzales knocked both runners home with a double to center. She went to third on a single by Faske. Gonzales stole home and Faske stole second. Reese Preston singled to deep right to plate Faske for the 10-1 fifth inning lead.
Salado scored four runs in the top of the sixth. With one out, Oliver earned a walk and Wilson earned a walk. Oborski triple to deep right to score both runners. She scored on a passed ball. Gonzales singled to left and advanced on the throw. She scored on a two-out single to right by Preston.
Elizabeth Ford came on in the sixth inning to play third base, where she grabbed three grounders and threw all of the runners out trying to reach first, ending the game.
[table “79” not found /]
Navasota 0
Salado 10
Bailey Tindell struck out seven Navasota batters in the first game of the Salado Lady Eagles’ best-of-three series on April 26 as Salado won the game 10-0 in a run rule shortened six innings.
She threw 91 pitches in the game, 58 of the for strikes. Tindell allowed four hits and walked one batter in the win.
Only once did a Navasota player get into scoring position: Ripkowski singled and stole second but was left stranded there in the fourth.
Salado scored a run in each of the first three innings before puling on four in the fourth, two in the fifth and the game-stopper in the bottom of the sixth.
Piper Randolph led off the scoring for Salado, as she often does, but hitting a single to left. She stole second and third bases, scoring on a groundout by Breigh Oliver.
Reese Preston singled with two outs in the second. She advanced on a single by Elizabeth Ford and scored on a single by Randolph.
Chris Wilson singled to left with an out in the third. She scored on a triple by Rylee Oborski.
The Lady Eagles scored four runs in the fourth. Earning hits in the inning were Ford and Marissa Gonzales, doubles, and Randolph, Cantu, Oliver and Oborski, singles.
With two outs in the sixth, Erin Faske singled to center. She went to third on a singled to right by Preston and scored on a passed ball to end the game.
[table “80” not found /]