Butch Hart | American-Statesman Correspondent
Diamond dust
Caitlin Benningfield pitched a seven-strikeout complete game as Cedar Ridge beat Stony Point 10-2 in District 25-6A play. Hutto beat McNeil 9-1 while Vista Ridge improved to 19-4-1 overall and 9-1 in league play by beating Vandegrift. Ranger pitcher Mikala Ham went the distance striking out 14 while Charli Watson had two hits and Ashlyn Borgognone slammed a home run. Maci Kubala scored twice while stealing a base and Sara Pelache doubled and scored. Chloe Wheeler added a hit, a run, a stolen base and an RBI in the win.
Round Rock beat Westwood 7-2 behind the efforts of Maddy Azua. The first place Dragons trailed in the first inning after Westwood’s Dani Martinez was hit by a pitch and came around to score. Round Rock took the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Bailee Morrison singled, stole second base then scored on a hit by Azua. Jordan Rivas replaced Azua as a courtesy runner while Malarie Medina and Kim Yepez walked to load the bases. Freshman Meghan Merwick singled home Rivas for a 2-1 Dragon lead. Azua finished the night with three hits in four at-bats and three RBIs. Medina, Morrison, Merwick, Brantley Lavas and Maddie Woodul each had a hit. Elizabeth Joyner led the Warriors with a pair of hits, one a double.
More: Hays softball tops Lake Travis, moves atop district standings
Hays beat District 26-6A co-contender Lake Travis 8-2 and San Marcos 11-0. Katie Noble was the winning pitcher in both games. Noble scattered four hits and fanned six against the Cavaliers while Julissa Vasquez had three hits and drove in four runs. Mia Liscano also had three hits as the Hawks collected five doubles including one each by: Noble, Bella Gomez, Mariah Johnson, Emily Palacio and two by Vasquez.
In the five inning, 11-0 win over San Marcos, Noble pitched three innings while Haley Cone pitched two innings in the combined shutout. Megan Kelnar had four hits including a two-run home run while Erin Doherty tripled in a run. Cone had two hits including a double and drove in three runs.
Lake Travis rebounded from the loss to Hays by beating Austin High 4-3 as Paige Connors had eight strikeouts and Payton Trickett slammed a pair of doubles. Bowie stayed two games back of Hays as the Bulldogs beat Del Valle 15-6 and Westlake 6-1. Julianna Dankert got the win over Del Valle while Emma Solis homered and added a sacrifice fly. In other league play, Bowie beat Del Valle 15-6 to move into a second place tie with Lake Travis. For Bowie, Taylor Haywood had two hits, scored three runs and drove in two runs while Solis and Dankert had two RBIs each. Dankert earned the win and struck out eight. In the win over Westlake, Solis fanned 17 while freshman Valeria Feeney was a perfect three for three at the plate with two RBIs.
More: High school softball update: Bowie’s Olivia Moreno player of the week; Thorndale red hot
Pflugerville had a huge week, moving into a tie for first in District 18-5A as Delilah Robles pitched a 10-inning shutout in a 1-0 win over Elgin on Tuesday then the Panthers beat Hendrickson 9-4 when freshman catcher Lauryn Jackson crushed a home run. Pflugerville’s M’Kenna Ross had three RBIs and Zyniah Reese pitched four and 2/3 innings, striking out six and allowing one hit to earn the victory. Elgin kept pace with a three-inning, 16-0 win over Manor.
In District 25-5A, Leander scored eight runs in the first inning and beat Marble Falls 16-1 as SJ Geurin struck out eight while collecting three hits herself. Megan Lee had three hits and drove in three runs while Marley Neises homered and drove in three runs for the Lions. Liberty Hill beat Cedar Park 7-2 while Georgetown won the battle of the Williamson County seat by defeating East View 9-3 as Maddie Hartley pitched a complete game win. Abby Hodgson had two hits with four RBIs while Ashley Blaylock had two hits and two RBIs and Kennedy Miller had two hits. Georgetown went out of district and beat 26-5A leader Dripping Springs 10-6 with Cambree Creager pitching the win. Isa Torres had three hits for the Eagles while Hartley had two hits with a home run and four RBIs. Braylin Pannill added two hits.
On Saturday, the Eagles managed a dramatic walk-off win over Boerne 5-4 as they trailed 4-1 into the bottom of the seventh inning and scored four runs with one out. Torres and Haiden McGehee had two hits each and Torres scored the winning run on a base hit by Hartley.
In District 17-5A play, Crockett had a huge game as the Cougars beat Northeast 15-0. Crockett’s leadoff hitter Tess Waits went had quite a week as the Cougars then lost to Lockhart 16-8. Waits had six hits including two doubles and a triple and caught a line drive to begin a triple play against Lockhart.
Thorndale won the Battle of 79 against rival Thrall on Tuesday 9-2 to improve to 8-0 in District 27-2A play. Thorndale leadoff batter and Texas State commit Emilee Baker remained hot as she had three hits, including a pair for doubles and scored four runs. Baker is hitting .652 in district play. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi commit Natalie Garcia also had three hits with three RBIs and is hitting .613 in district. Paris Junior College commit Kelsey Kovar tacked on three RBIs and added to her total of 30 for district play. Freshman pitcher Karis Ginn is now 14-2 and has 77 strikeouts for the season.
More: High school softball update: Anderson on a hot streak; Vista Ridge’s Brooke Wells honored
Taylor beat Salado 8-5 in District 19-4A play as Lindsay O’Dell scattered five this and only allowed one earned run while striking out 14. Alyssa Ortiz had two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs for the Ducks. In private school action, Hyde Park beat San Antonio St. Anthony 12-6 then edged Corpus Christi John Paul II 5-3 to move to 24-2 on the season.
State polls
On Tuesday, top-10 ranked foes Leander and Georgetown square off on the Eagle diamond as Georgetown is ranked fourth and Leander fifth in the Texas Girls Coaches Association state polls. Thorndale is ranked No. 9 in Class 2A, as is La Grange in Class 4A. Round Rock is slotted at No. 10 in Class 6A to round out the local top-10 teams.
Other Austin-area ranked teams are: Hays (No. 11 in Class 6A), Llano (No. 12 in 3A), Taylor (No. 11 in 4A), Smithville (No. 12 in 4A), Vista Ridge (No. 13 in 6A), Elgin (No. 19 in 5A), Bowie (No. 20 in 6A), Dripping Springs (No. 21 in 5A). Anderson is now in the poll for the first time in 16 years at No. 25 in 5A.
Player of the week
Maddy Azua, junior, Round Rock: Azua pitched a complete game win on senior night as the first place Dragons beat Westwood 7-2. Azua had three hits, including a home run, drove in three runs and scored once.
Team of the Week
Hays: It was a big week for head coach Lisa Cone and the Hawks as they improved to 15-5 overall and 9-1 in District 26-6A by beating both Lake Travis 8-2 and San Marcos 11-0. Katie Noble was the winning pitcher in both games while Julie Vasquez had three hits and drove in four runs against Lake Travis. Megan Kelnar had four hits including a two-run home run in the Hawks’ win over the Rattlers.
Games to watch
Tuesday
Hays at Westlake, 7 p.m.
La Grange at Giddings, 7 p.m.
Lake Travis at Del Valle, 7 p.m.
Leander at Georgetown, 7 p.m.
Vista Ridge at Cedar Ridge, 7 p.m.
Butch Hart, American-Statesman correspondent
Please submit scores, stats, news, notes and player of the week nominations to Butch Hart at ejhartvb@yahoo.com. Nominations for the player of the week are due each Sunday at 5 p.m.
Fab Fives
Class 6A
1. Round Rock 17-6
2. Hays 15-5
3. Vista Ridge 19-4-1
4. Bowie 17-6
5. Lake Travis 17-5
Class 5A
1. Leander 17-5
2. Georgetown 23-2
3. Anderson 17-7
4. Elgin 17-4
5. Dripping Springs 19-9
Class 4A and others
1. Hyde Park 24-2
2. Thorndale 18-6
3. La Grange 13-10
4. Smithville 18-4-1
5. Taylor 15-3