HP Softball loses to Creekview, falls to 2-4 in district play
With high expectations going in to last Friday night’s key district 10-4A softball game, the Highland Park softball team fell short in losing to Carrollton Creekview 12-4. The loss places the Lady Scots at 2-4 in district play with eight district games remaining.
Of the eight teams in this tough district, the top four will qualify for the UIL playoffs. North Forney leads the way with a 6-0 record, with Mesquite Poteet at 5-1. Both Forney and Creekview are 4-2. It is against these two current 3rd and 4th place teams that HP Head Varsity Softball Coach Meredith Townsend believes her team can best compete and topple. But on Friday, despite a good effort and a promising 5th inning rally, the Lady Scots just couldn’t muster the hits when they were needed and weren’t as tight on defense as they had shown previously against other top opponents.
Trailing 1-0, and in their half of the second, the Lady Scots had a chance to even things up, when, with one out, sophomore Katie Bell walked. After lightning-fast courtesy-runner Heather Hansen stole 2nd, freshman left-fielder Olivia Davis stepped-up and ripped a shot to 3rd base that senior (and college-signee) Cheri Jackson snagged and quickly threw to 2nd doubling-up Hansen and ending the Scottie threat. That type of inning would prove symptomatic for Highland Park all night as the Lady Scots would leave a total of 8 runners on base.
Moving to the 4th inning (after Creekview’s shortstop and clean-up hitter Kira Edmeads homered in the 3rd to make it 3-0), HP got on the board when sophomore second baseman Sunny Bowden registered the Lady Scots first hit with a line drive single up the middle. She would later score when Olivia Davis had better luck than her last AB, this time smacking the ball over the 3rd baseman’s head for a double. Unfortunately Highland Park couldn’t push any more runs across in the inning.
Three HP errors helped lead to 5 more Creekview runs in the 5th. With the score 8-1, the Lady Scots mounted a bit of a comeback. After sophomore right fielder Emily Singh walked back-to-back base hits by sophomore catcher Rennie Orr and junior shortstop Panse Nakada eventually scored Singh and with two on and nobody out, the stage seemed set for a big inning. Senior captain Ginna Klein would deliver. Klein took a 3-2 count deep to centerfield, tripling off the wall – scoring both Orr and Nakada. Unfortunately the next Scottie batter (freshman Mary Mulcahy) lined out and then Klein was nabbed at home while trying to tag-up on Sunny Bowden’s fly ball to right field. The threat was squelched and HP couldn’t get any more runners into scoring position in ether the 6th or 7th innings.
The good news for HP on this night was threefold. The team used this game to raise awareness and money for the fight against MS. Through a fundraising effort that led up to the game, the team was able to pass last year's dollar amount. As well, 4A area strikeout leader Katie Bell fanned six Lady Mustangs. She has now whiffed 123 batters so far this season. Finally, the Lady Scots softball team gets play each team again in their district, and, if they can play to their potential, they just may surprise us. Their next games are Tuesday, March 25 at Newman Smith and Friday, March 28 at Terrell.