Bryan (25-10), which was in position to win District 14-6A until dropping its last two games of the regular season, squandered scoring chances Friday in the first two innings. The Lady Vikings had two runners in scoring position seven pitches into the game but didn’t score. Then they left another runner in scoring position the next inning as underdog Vista Ridge (20-12), which had won a coin flip for a one-game series, gained momentum.
“I told them, we were lucky that we’d already gone through the whole lineup,” Bryan coach Enrique Luna said. “So we had the perfect time to go make some runs. I told them to settle down — you’ve been trying to kill the ball. I said just relax and go play with confidence.”
Bryan did just that, scoring two runs with two outs in the third inning. The Lady Vikings tacked on three more runs in the fourth, and the five-run cushion was more than enough for sophomore pitcher Jessica Adams (20-7).
Bryan (25-10) advances to play fourth-ranked Klein Collins (29-2) in area. Klein Collins, a 21-1 winner over Aldine Nimitz, will be a prohibitive favorite, but the Lady Vikings are just glad for the opportunity after getting swept by Whitehouse in a best-of-3 bi-district series last season.
“After last season when we went two and out, I still think the kids had that in their minds,” Luna said. “We have a lot of returning players from that team.”
Two of those returners, Adams and senior shortstop Jade Chavarria, opened the game with a walk and double, but the next three batters looked anxious with two striking out and the other popping up to the catcher.
“We just play inning by inning,” Chavarria said. “We don’t think let’s go hit a bomb. We think base hit. Let’s do everything we can to get on.”
Adams and Chavarria were at the center of action Bryan’s two scoring rallies.
Adams walked to open the third, and Chavarria singled. Brenda Sanchez pushed a bunt past the pitcher for a single, loading the bases.
Vista Ridge junior starting pitcher Chloe Smith, who escaped jams in the first two innings, teetered on doing it again by getting a popup and her fifth strikeout. But Bryan senior Briann Pendergraff worked a full-count walk to drive in the first run, and Brianna Garcia singled in the second run.
“We changed our mindset,” Chavarria said. “We had to be like, Jessica, you get on and I’ll move you.”
Bryan’s Micah Ruiz walked to open the third inning. Adams roped a double into the left-field corner to plate Ruiz for a 3-0 lead. Chavarria ripped a shot into right field to drive in another run. She scored the final run on an error.
“I knew we could come back no matter what,” Chavarria said. “It feels good coming back from a couple losses, but I knew we could win.”
In the circle, Adams struggled only in the second inning when she opened with two walks but retired the next three batters.
“You can’t say enough about her,” Luna said. “She’s maturing before our eyes. Last year, I think she was a little wide-eyed in that first-round series.”
She played like a senior Friday.
“She knows that this is her team, her program,” Luna said. “She just does what she does, and she trusts her defense. We made a couple of blunders, but we didn’t let it snowball like it did last Thursday [in a 5-4 loss at Cypress Woods].”
Bryan’s defense made two errors in the fifth, but it also made a couple solid plays to keep the shutout intact. Catcher Sanchez threw out a runner trying to steal for the first out. Center fielder Pendergraff aggressively charged a hard-hit, two-out single to force the runner to stop at third, moving only one base.
Chavarria and Garcia each had three of Bryan’s eight hits.
All the Lady Vikings took turns holding the bi-district championship trophy that will be added to the display case for a program that’s won a state title (2002) and been runner-up twice.
“Obviously, we were disappointed [how we ended the regular season],” Luna said. “We were really excited about the opportunity to win a district championship for our program, but we fell a little short. But we talked about it before we left [Cypress Woods] — it’s in the past.”
Bryan and Klein Collins will open their area playoff series at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Montgomery Lake Creek. Game 2 will be at 6 p.m. Thursday with Game 3 at 6 p.m. next Friday if necessary.
Bryan 5, Vista Ridge 0
Bryan 002 300 0 — 5 8 2
Vista Ridge 000 000 0 — 0 5 4
Jessica Adams and Bren... Click here to read full article
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