LADY LION PLAYOFF RUN ENDS WITH 0-4 LEANDER UPSET

A banner season for the Varsity Lady Lions came to
a close on Saturday afternoon when the Area Champion
Lady Lions took a crushing 0-4 loss to the Leander
Lady Lions in the Regional Quarterfinals.
The Lady Lions came into what was scheduled to
be a best-of-three contest with a 26-11 record on the
season, having been named District 27-4A runners up,
then beating San Anton

io Brackenridge for a Bi-District
Championship and Marble Falls for an Area
Championship.
During their final weeks of play, the Lady Lions
scored a total of 49 unanswered runs before Marble
Falls was able to plate a runner last weekend. Working
on their season motto,
“Unfinished Business (UB),
13,” the Lady Lions
charged through the competition
with week after
week of solid play, bringing
home resounding victories
from across District
27-4A.
In the first week of playoffs,
the Lady Lions rolled
over San Antonio Brackenridge,
7-0, and then followed
up with 8-2 and 9-7
wins over the Marble Falls
Mustangs.
Confident coming into
the series against Leander,
the Lady Lions fell victim
to the weather on Friday
night, when the storm system
that ripped through
Central Texas caused at
first a delay and eventually
the cancellation of the game.
The team returned to Austin on Saturday afternoon,
but with their work cut out for them.
By the end of the night, for only the second time in
their 38 games this season, the Lady Lions were shut
out, falling 0-4 to the white-hot Leander squad.
“The Leander pitcher threw a stellar game, only allowing
one Lockhart hit all night,” Head Coach Katy
Snell said.
Lockhart hit eight pop flies for outs and only three
runners reached the bases.
“I think we are all a little shocked that our season
ended the way it did,” Snell said. “When you are up
against weather elements that can control your destiny with the amount of
game you can play, you
have to be ready. It just
wasn’t our night. It was
definitely the wrong
game for our bats to go
cold.”
Overall throughout the
season, the Lady Lions
outscored their opponents
247-122. Saturday
afternoon, though, it all
came to a close.
“I know it’s not the
ending we all had hoped for, but the girls still had a great season and battled through a lot of adversity,”
Snell said.
Senior pitcher Mikaela
Flores tied up a fantastic
high school career in the
circle on a lower-than usual
note, giving up
eight hits and striking out
five batters. Flores will attend
the University of Incarnate
Word next year,
and has committed to
their softball program.
Seniors Giselle Maciel
and Mackinzee Griebel
have also signed letters of
intent, and will play softball
for Lubbock Christian
University and Texas
A&M Corpus Christi, respectively.