HOUSTON — The Clear Creek Lady Wildcats ended their outstanding season in the Region III-5A finals Friday, dropping a 6-2 decision to the Pearland Lady Oilers at the University of Houston Cougar Softball Stadium.
Pearland (36-6-1) advances to the state tournament, while Creek (32-12) ends the season with a school record for wins. The Oilers swept the best-of-three series, winning both games, 6-2.
“We just told them, ‘Hold your heads up high,’” Wildcats head coach Andrea Cash said. “We’re a fighting team. We’ll be back next year. I wish all the seniors the best. You just have to give Pearland credit. We just couldn’t handle them.”
Creek once again drew first blood, scoring in the bottom of the first when senior Ashley Moore drove a two-RBI double into the left-center gap.
Junior Misty Munley started the game pitching and held Pearland scoreless the first four innings.
The Oilers trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the fifth when sophomore Lauren Langer scored on an error by the third baseman.
Then, the bottom fell out for the Wildcats in the top of the sixth as Pearland scored four runs to go up 5-2. Junior Jaclyn Bechtle and sophomore Chelsea Bennett hit RBI singles to put the Oilers up 3-2. Freshman courtesy runner Courtney Sams plated on an RBI groundout by Langer, and Bennett capped the sixth-inning offensive outburst by scoring on an error by the third baseman.
Pearland added its final run on an RBI single by senior Kymberlee Rychlik in the seventh.
Cash said her team failed to capitalize when it had the lead.
“I knew two wasn’t going to be enough — not with this team,” Cash said. “They have so much speed and so many weapons. They can short-game you. We held them for a while, but two wasn’t enough.”
Munley pitched 52/3 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and striking out three. Junior Katie Moulder tossed the final 11/3, allowing one run on two hits.
Oilers sophomore pitcher Jessica Bowden stepped to the mound in the third in relief of sophomore starter Brooke Dubois. Bowden, the winner of Thursday’s game, fired five innings of three-hit ball. She struck out four. Dubois allowed two runs on two hits in two innings. She struck out four and walked three.
While Moore’s two-run double started off the game strong for the Wildcats, Creek only managed four singles the rest of the way. Junior Laken Vichich hit two singles. Junior Taylor Freudenberg and Munley each hit singles.
Defensively, Creek shortstop Jessica Hempfling made a diving stab on a sharp liner up the middle for an out in the third. Munley pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fourth with a strikeout followed by a pretty 1-2-3 double play with Munley firing to Vichich at the plate for one out and Vichich throwing to Moore at first to end the inning.
