Playoffs: The Woodlands meets Kingwood

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – It doesn’t get much better than this.

The Woodlands High School softball team, ranked No. 2 in the state, takes on No. 3 state-ranked Kingwood in a best-of-three Region II-5A finals playoff series at Tomball High School. The series begins at 7 p.m. Friday and concludes with a 1 p.m. Saturday game. A third game, if necessary, follows Game 2.

Meanwhile, The Woodlands High School baseball team, ranked No. 1 in the state, battles Plano West in a best-of-three Region II-5A semifinals series at Georgetown East View High School. That series begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday and also concludes on Saturday with a noon game. A third game, if necessary, follows Game 2.

The Lady Highlanders (30-7) enter the region finals for the third consecutive season. They lost to Klein Collins last year after winning a state championship in 2011. During that same span, The Woodlands defeated Kingwood four consecutive times as District 14-5A foes.

Sophomore Aubrey Leach, who is hitting above .500 for the season, leads the Lady Highlanders at the plate along with senior Alyssa Jorgensen and junior Sidney Salmans. Both are hitting well above .400 and have combined for more than 100 hits this season.

Sophomore Abby Langkamp leads the team with three homers and is hitting just under the .400 mark. A 20-game winner in the circle, Langkamp is half of the solid 1-2 pitching punch along with junior Caitlin Bartsch.

Brittany Kellett, Taylor Vick and Kaitlyn Stavinoha are also among the team’s leading hitters.

The District 13-5A champion Kingwood Lady Mustangs (32-3) have only lost to No. 1 state-ranked Deer Park (6-4), Atascocita (7-3) and Klein Collins (7-5). Kingwood does not own a victory over a team currently ranked in the top 10. The Woodlands defeated No. 10 Cinco Ranch 5-1.

Kingwood has won its last 20 games and 26 of its last 27.

The Lady Mustangs have a solid lineup from top to bottom. Anna Olejniczak, Lindsay Gregory, and Cassie McClure lead the way. McClure and Ashley Johnson pace the Lady Mustangs in the circle.

The top-ranked Highlanders (32-3) are hitting right at .300 as a team, have won eight games in a row and 11 of their last 12. Sophomore Chris Andritsos leads the attack with a school-record 13 homers this season. Blaine Gillespie, Luke Sherley, Charlie and Hillin Warren, Alex Dunlap, Kolbi Brown and Josh Shaw are all hitting at or above .300.

Ryan Burnett and Carter Hope lead a solid pitching staff.

Plano West (23-11-1) comes into the tournament playing perhaps its best baseball of the season. The Wolves are on a nine-game win streak and like the Highlanders have won all six of their postseason games.

Billy McKinney leads the Wolves in hitting (.388, 4HR) and Nick Gripp (9-2, 2.06 ERA) paces the pitching staff.