NAVASOTA — Lake Belton’s plan was simple entering its regional semifinal tilt against Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill on Friday night.
Put the ball in play — by any means necessary.
Then the Lady Broncos took an early lead and chased Lady Eagles starter Hailey Nutter without lifting the bat off their collective shoulder.
When they finally did, it was swift and with authority.
Angie DeLeon and Casey Schultz each homered for the second straight game, stringing together back-to-back shots to open the third inning, and Shelby Schultz struck out seven in a complete game to help Lake get past Barbers Hill 4-2 in a Class 5A Region III semifinal at Ira Floyd Field.
The victory moved the Lady Broncos (38-4) into next week’s region final for the third time in four years. Lake Belton will play Richmond Foster or Montgomery Lake Creek.
“We knew that both pitchers had a really good rise ball and that they were going to go outside. I think early on, we struggled with that but we stuck to the plan,” Lake Belton head coach Kelsie McEachern said. “That’s what we worked on all week and we just stuck with it and finally toward the middle and end of the game they were starting to see better pitches and have better at-bats.”
Nutter promptly fanned the first two batters she faced before Casey Schultz drew a five-pitch walk to start the first-inning rally, which proceeded with the next three Lake hitters getting hit by pitches. Casey Schultz reached base all four times, twice on intentional walks, and scored three runs to pace the Lady Broncos on offense.
Alexis Ortiz was the last of that trio, and her beanball brought home Casey Schultz for the 1-0 edge.
“I may have given a few take signs here and there, but we knew that she could get wild at times,” McEachern said of Nutter, who lasted just 2/3 of an inning. “Anything you can get off Nutter is a tremendous job and so to rattle her in the first inning, they did a great job of sticking to it there.”
Macie Bryant relieved Nutter and struck out Madison Perkins to limit the damage.
Barbers Hill (33-5-2) had won 10 straight entering Friday as the tandem of Nutter and Bryant came into the game on the heels of back-to-back combined no-hitters.
Through their playoff run, in fact, they had allowed just five hits and fanned 44 batters as the Lady Eagles outscored opponents 42-1.
Barbers Hill wasted little time resetting the score after Savi Barrientos lined the second Shelby Schultz pitch she saw down the third base line for the game’s first hit.
The left fielder stole second and later scored on Payton Helmly’s deep sacrifice fly to right.
The Lady Broncos eventually connected for their first hit in the third and the wait was worth it.
Bryant’s first offering of the inning was a changeup on which DeLeon pounced, turning it to left for a 2-1 lead. Two pitches later, Casey Schultz matched her teammate, also pulling her solo shot that flew high into the air and well past the fence.
“They mean a lot,” McEachern said of the two seniors. “Obviously, they know how to step up. I’m proud of them for leading by example.”
The Lady Eagles, meanwhile, got two-out hits in each of the second and third frames but did not capitalize. Kamryn Bishop was left on first following an opposite-field single in the second. Brookelyn Livanec slid in head-first for a hustle double in the third, but Shleby Schultz’s rise ball got Helmly swinging for the final out.
Barbers Hill cut into its deficit as the game entered the middle innings, though the Lady Broncos answered right back.
Nutter found room in the right-center gap to open the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff triple to jumpstart Barbers Hill. The junior crossed the plate two batters later when pinch hitter JosLynn Cooper shot a hard single up the middle to trim things to 3-2.
The Lady Eagles’ Aybrie Corona tried to help her team get more but her sharp liner to the right side was gloved by Lake second baseman Ortiz to end the threat.
Ortiz then used her bat to put Lake Belton back ahead by a pair in the next stanza.
Barbers Hill head coach Aaron Fuller elected to intentionally walk Casey Schultz to open the top of the fifth, a decision that backfired when Ortiz cleared the head of a drawn-in Livanec in center for a run-scoring double that one-hopped the fence.
“We came out with an aggressive mindset. We were trying to lay off the rise ball, be disciplined. That’s always our approach,” Ortiz said. “We just executed it more today. We did our best, and it worked.”
Lake’s lead was in good hands from there as Shelby Schultz started gaining steam in the circle as the contest wore to the end.
The senior sat down seven of the last eight batters she faced, with Kaylyn Koester’s two-out infield single to deep short in the bottom of the seventh being the lone exception.
Shelby Schultz recovered, though, striking out Barrientos on a rise ball to seal the win five pitches later and set off a celebration that again included a cooler bath for McEachern.
SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS
CLASS 5A REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
Friday
- Lake Belton 4, Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill 2, Lake Belton advances
CLASS 4A REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
(Best-of-3)
Friday
- Liberty 8, Salado 2
- Liberty 8, Salado 3, Liberty wins series 2-0
