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Lady Cats headed to state
BY ANDREW MAY, Staff Writer
DUNCANVILLE---Erupting from the dugout, Celina softball coach Billy Coleman galloped onto the diamond like a thoroughbred heading down the home stretch as he joined the celebration with his players on the mound. No one was as relieved as Coleman when the Lady Cats finally made the last out Saturday night to knock off the nation’s 21st-ranked team and punch their ticket to the state tournament for the first time since 2006.
Celina nearly fumbled away a commanding 5-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning against Van in Game 3, but managed to hold off for a 5-3 victory to clinch the Class 3A Region II championship.
“I don’t even know what to say,” Coleman said. “Just unbelievable.”
Van, which entered the series with an unblemished 32-0 record, made a late charge in the bottom of the frame by taking advantage of a pair of errors to pull closer. But a bullet to short was snagged by Cronin, who threw from her knees for the final out to begin the celebration.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” said Cronin, who had a two-run homer in the 3-2 Game 1 loss and two doubles in Game 2. “All our hard work paid off. We knew we could do it.”
Following a poor showing in the opening game that allowed Van to steal early momentum in the series, Coleman got after his players and they responded in Game 2. Down by a run entering the fifth inning, senior first baseman Shelby Black drove a sacrifice fly to right field to score Olivia Braddock, who was running for San Miguel. Then in the sixth, Cronin ripped a two-RBI double that one-hopped the fence in left-center field before being plated by San Miguel on a single to right. It was all the Lady Cats would need to force a decisive third game.
In the closeout contest, Celina (36-5) used a pair of RBIs by Black to get the scoring started. She popped up a fly ball to center that was dropped, scoring Taylor Norris for a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Two stanzas later, Black singled to score freshman Shelby Carter, who doubled to center and advanced to third on a poor cutoff. Because senior Kylie Roos, who pitched all 21 innings in the series, was keeping Van from threatening most of the game, that lead looked to be good. It wouldn’t have been if not for San Miguel. Her three-run bomb to bring in Lindsie Knowles and Cronin was needed.
“In games like this, enough is not enough. That was huge,” Coleman said. “We kind of beat ourselves swinging at bad pitches (in Game 1) and you can’t do that against a good team like that. I told the girls just take it one game at a time and it will all work out. We knew going in we were as good as them if not better.”
That they were. And as Cronin put it, they are “probably” the favorites to win the Class 3A state title now.
Celina will play in the state semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday against either Needville or Sweeny. On the other side of the bracket, Gatesville will take on Spring Hill. The 3A state championship game will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday.
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