Aledo advances to area with win over Everman

The Aledo Ladycats will advance to the area round of the Class 5A playoffs after making short work of Everman’s Lady Bulldogs in the bi-district round on Thursday, April 25. Aledo won the best-of-three series with back-to-back wins by scores of 15-0 and 14-0.

The Ladycats (29-3), who won District 5-5A with a 12-0 record, were playing Birdville (24-8, 10-4 and third in 7-5A) at Boswell High School on Thursday, May 2 in a one-game area-round series.

Aledo ended up being the visiting team in the series opener. From the start of the game, the Ladycats imposed their will as the superior team. The District 5-5A champs sent 10 batters to the plate and scored nine runs before the Lady Bulldogs recorded their first out. The Ladycats put five more runs across the plate to make it a 14-0 ballgame before Everman was able to get out of the inning.

The reprieve was short-lived for the Lady Bulldogs in the home half of the first inning. Pitcher Taylor McKean was dialed in for Aledo as she struck out all three batters she faced to make it a three-up, three down first inning for the weary Lady Bulldogs.

Jordan Edington led off the top of the second with a solo shot down the line in left field that cleared the wall for a round tripper to put Aledo up 15-0.

With the game well in hand, the Ladycats began bunting and intentionally leaving base early in an attempt to move the game along.

In the bottom of the second, McKean once again did her part, as she mowed down the four, five, and six-hole hitters for Everman. She struck out all six batters she faced before she was replaced on the mound the following inning.

Lilly Heckathorn came on to pitch for the Ladycats in the bottom of the third. The slender righty picked up where McKean left off, striking out the first two batters she faced.

Only one batter for Everman managed to put the ball in play in the first game. The nine-hole hitter managed to hit a soft fly ball to short right-center, where Edington quickly gathered it up to record the final out of the game.

Taylor McKean leans in to get the sign before delivering a pitch against Everman in the bi-district matchup on Thursday, April 25.

More of the same

Aledo’s domination continued in Game 2 as Ladycat ace and Texas Tech-commit Brenlee Gonzales went to the mound. Gonzales shut down the Lady Bulldogs in her two innings of work. She threw 30 total pitches, faced seven batters, struck out five and issued one free pass before being replaced by Rylee Marx in the third inning.

In the home half of the first, Addie Perry hit a lead-off triple to get the Ladycat offensive onslaught underway. Aledo played five runs in the opening frame, capped off by a base hit by Breleigh Mayer that led to a three-base fielding error, allowing her to motor all the way around the bases to score. At the end of the first inning the Ladycats held a 5-0 lead.