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Lady Cats ‘hungry and ready to go’
BY ANDREW MAY, amay@acnpapers.com
Actions may speak louder than words, but in the case of the Celina softball team, both are rather boisterous.
The Lady Cats charge into the playoffs today with a full head of steam after beating four solid opponents in tune-up games the past two weeks. They enter the postseason on a roll, and appear to have what it takes to get to Austin for the state tournament. Head coach Billy Coleman said there is nothing holding his team back in its bid for a return trip.
“No, I really don’t see anything,” he said. “They’re hungry and ready to go. They’re kind of just even keel and ready to take care of business.”
The comparisons don’t end there. Coleman said both teams stack up in virtually every other category as well.
“We’re having really good pitching, everybody’s hitting and we’re really playing good defense right now,” he said. “They’re really hasn’t been any letdown whatsoever.”
The primary difference is this year’s team is younger after graduating several important seniors. But that doesn’t equate to less experience.
“Even though they’re young, they’ve played in playoff games,” Coleman said. “I don’t think that’s going to factor in at all.”
Nor does Coleman believe the lack of a meaningful game in nearly a month will play a factor. The Lady Cats wrapped up the District 9-3A championship April 13 against Whitesboro, and while they have played five games since, none has carried any significance.
“Our last four were about as tough as you can get,” Coleman said. “I think they’re ready to go.”
There is no doubting that Celina is well prepared for what could be a lengthy playoff run. The squad has given up just 11 runs over the past 14 games, nine of which were shutouts. In that same period, the Lady Cats have scored 141 runs. Stretched out over the course of the entire season, CHS is averaging 8.6 runs per game while yielding less than two runs an outing.
That in itself is a feat to behold when considering some of the competition Celina faced in non-district play. The Lady Cats played Frisco Wakeland, the No. 3 team in the entire nation, to a 4-3 game. They also took on Coppell, the top-ranked 5A team in Texas.
And while Kennedale won’t go down without a fight, the Lady Wildcats won’t exactly present something Celina hasn’t seen before.
“We know Kennedale is good, but we’re a good team,” Coleman said. “We feel like we can score some runs off of them if we do the right things at the plate. They’re ready to go.”
Coleman elected to play a series and said he will choose that route every round over a one-game playoff if he wins the flip.
“I’m confident in my team in a series,” he said. “Anybody can have a bad game, but I’m hoping we put a full series together.”
That confidence stems from having sophomore Katelyn Drummond on the mound. After pitching six games in two days in the Belton tournament, a three-game series spread over two days won’t faze her in the least.
“She’s primed and ready to go,” Coleman said. “They scare me, I’m not going to lie. They have a good squad. But so do we.”
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