After sweeping Seagoville in the bi-district round of the playoffs, the Highland Park High School softball team advanced to the Area Round.

The Lady Scots will play District 10-5A champion McKinney North who beat Frisco Lone Star to advance.

HP will play McKinney North in a best-of-three series.

Game 1 will be Thursday, May 2nd at the HPHS softball field at 6pm (the original time was 7p, but first pitch has been moved up).

Game 2 will be Friday, May 3rd at McKinney North High School -- 2550 Wilmeth Rd., McKinney, TX., 75071 -- at 7pm.

Game 3 (if necessary) will be played on Saturday, May 4th at 12 noon at Wyle High School -- 2550 E. FM 544, Wylie, TX. 75098 (and yes, another 2550)

Go Scots!

The Highland Park High School Lady Scots Varsity softball team started the 2nd half of their district season with a decisive 9-1 victory over Newman Smith last Friday Night at the HP Softball Field.  The batters for HP amassed 10 hits with juniors Monroe Glass and Dawson Dabboussi each logging multiple hits including a two-bagger for Glass and a triple for the Lady Scot catcher Dabboussi.   Perhaps no hit was as exciting as the 2nd inning, grand slam which junior Ava Sims smacked on an 0-1 count.  The base-clearing, inside-the-park job would prove to be all the Lady Scots needed as junior pitcher Claire Walker kept the Lady Trojans in-check all night, not allowing a run to score until the top of the 6th and striking-out four in the process.

With a 7-2 district record, HP visits Dallas Conrad and Bryan Adams High Schools this week.  HP returns home for a non-district game on Saturday (4/6) game against Hockaday (first pitch is at 12n) before resuming district play at Carrollton Creekview on April 12th.

Also this week, on Thursday, April 4th (from 10a-7p), the HPHS Softball Community invites all licensed drivers to help with the team's annual fundraiser.  This year, in conjunction with Park Cities Ford anyone (18 and over) who test-drives a Ford vehicle and completes a short survey will help the HP softball team earn funds.  The team gets $20 per donation from Ford Motor Company (up to a maximum of $6,000) for the first test drive and another $10 for any 2nd test drive.   It's part of the 'Ford Drive 4 UR School' campaign.

Park Cities Ford is located at 3333 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX. 75235

For the second consecutive season, the Highland Park varsity softball team swept a best-of-three series in the bi-district round of the UIL playoffs, and, for the second consecutive year, HP will face Rockwall in the area round of post-season play.

The Lady Scots advanced by virtue of two shut-out wins over W.T. White High School.  The first, a 5-0, one-hit blanking last Thursday at Lady Longhorn Field, then, this past Saturday at the HP Softball Field,  a 10-0 win in a run rule shortened 5 inning game.

In both games, HP’s senior pitcher Katie Bell was sharp;  she followed-up her one-hit, 9 strike-out win on Thursday with a 3 hit, 4 strike-out game -- only throwing 50 pitches, about half her normal pitch count. 

Bell had more run support on Saturday after Head Varsity Softball Coach Meredith Townsend challenged the Lady Scots before the 2^nd game to hit to their potential after a slow start at the plate in game one.  The team responded, scoring eight runs in the first two innings of Saturday’s game.

HP’s lead-off batter, shortstop Amanda Reenan, got things started for the Lady Scots right from the get-go in the bottom of the first when she singled to left.  After senior Emily Singh sacrificed Reenan to 3^rd on a sneaky bunt on which Singh was nearly safe, Reenan would easily score when the next batter, Sunny Bowden, hit a line drive double in the left-center gap. 

With one out, HP was up quickly 1-0.  Highland Park’s four-hole batter, Rennie Orr next took an 0-1 pitch and pulled it off the W.T. White 3^rd baseman’s glove.  The softball caromed into foul territory allowing Sunny Bowden to score and Orr to safely take second.  After Katie Bell drew a walk on four straight pitches (one which allowed Orr’s courtesy runner, freshman Katie Reenan, to advance to 3^rd, another, allowing her to score), HP’s hot-hitting Olivia Davis poked a single into left which scored the Lady Scots’ 4^th run of the inning.

In the bottom half of the 2^nd, then, with one out, Amanda Reenan again came to the plate, took one ball, and then blasted her 7^th dinger of the year off the high left-center field fence at the HP Softball Field.  Highland Park would add to their run total when Emily Singh smashed yet another softball off the Lady Longhorn third-baseman.  Singh would score when Sunny Bowden (who was 2-for-4 on the day, with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored) hit her 2^nd double of the afternoon -- this time an opposite field shot to right field.  Rennie Orr then hit a sac. fly to left, which scored Bowden, and when Katie Bell drew her second base-on-balls, her courtesy runner, Sarah Hall, stole 2^nd, then 3^rd -- she too would score after Olivia Davis’ 2^nd base hit.  Through only two innings, HP led 8-0.

Both teams would be held in-check in the third inning, but Highland Park would tack-on a run in the 4^th when Rennie Orr led off the inning by tapping the W.T. White pitch for her second long ball given-up on the day -- this one a solo homer to left field.  The Lady Scots tried to add more runs in the inning after Katie Bell’s single to left, but a fly-out, ground-out and pop-out left Bell stranded on-base.  For the day, HP left 5 runners on base, which was an improvement from their Thursday game when they left 7 on base.

Highland Park’s 10^th run of the game came after Amanda Reenan walked.  When Emily Singh sacrificed Reenan to 2^nd and a fielder’s choice pushed the Scottie shortstop to 3^rd, Reenan would slide home for the game winning run (10 runs after 5 complete innings) and HP had swept the first round of the playoffs yet again.

For the game, HP scored 10 runs on 9 hits and committed only one error.  The Lady Longhorns scored no runs on 3 hits and had 3 errors.

With the win, Highland Park advances on to the area round and will face Rockwall High School this Friday, May 6^th in a one game playoff at 7pm at Wylie High School.

The 2016 Highland Park Lady Scots clinched the District 10-6A title last Tuesday after defeating Richardson Berkner 3-1 at the HP Softball Field.  This is the first district championship in softball for HP in school history.

The win was HP’s 13^th over the past 14 games, and the second time the Lady Scots have beaten Berkner; the 10-6A runner-up this year.  Of course HP had beaten the Lady Rams back on March 24^th, 6-1.  In both games, the top spot in District 10-6A had been at stake.

Similar to that March game, Berkner scored in the first inning, but HP would tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth after senior captain Rennie Orr hit a two-out single through the left side of the infield.  She would then score on an Olivia Davis clutch base hit to left field.

The score remained tied until the Lady Scot half of the 6^th when fellow senior captain Sunny Bowden led-off the inning by beating-out a bouncer to the left side of the infield.  With one on and no one out, Orr came through again, lifting a 1-0 pitch off the right field fence scoring Bowden -- with the throw at the plate arriving too late, Orr took third and HP had a 2-1 lead with a runner on third and no one out. 

The Lady Scots would add one more run that inning when senior Katie Bell lined a 1-1 fastball back up the middle scoring Orr. Through 6, HP was up 3-1.  That would be all the Lady Scot defense and pitcher Katie Bell would need.

In the full seven inning game, HP scored 3 runs on 5 hits while Berkner was held to 4 hits and one run. Bell , who brought her best stuff, struck-out 7 and gave-up no earned runs.  She threw 114 pitches in facing 25 total batters.  Bell's strike-out total for the season is 153, ranking her among the top 10 in the Dallas area in strikeouts.

The 10-6A District Champs’ next game is tonight, April 22nd, against Richardson High School.  Due to field conditions at Richardson’s home field, the game has been moved to the HP Softball Field.  The JV will play at 5p, the Varsity at 7p. 

Then, for the second consecutive year, the Lady Scots will begin their UIL playoff run.  This season, HP will likely face WT White High School in the bi-district round.