Playoffs: The Woodlands advances; Lady Highlanders fall

The curtain came down on a scrappy softball team that fought its way to the 2013 Region II-5A finals at Tomball High School. The Woodlands High School softball team dropped a 7-6 decision in nine innings Saturday to the Kingwood Lady Mustangs.

It was the Lady Highlanders (30-9) third consecutive appearance in the region finals. The Woodlands won the 2011 region and state championship before falling to Klein Collins in the 2012 region finals.

The Lady Highlanders grabbed a 4-0 lead but Kingwood fought back to take the lead with a five-run fourth inning. The Woodlands regained the lead when Taylor Vick delivered a two-out, two-run single in the sixth, but Kingwood tied it 6-6 in the seventh.

Vick had two hits and drove in four runs.

The Lady Highlanders finished with eight hits, all singles. In the two-game series, they piled up 18 hits – 17 of those were singles.

Abby Langkamp had two hits on Saturday while Aubrey Leach, Stefani Diehl (RBI), Autumn Zientek and Kaitlyn Stavinoha added one apiece.

Kingwood (34-3) moves on to the UIL Class 5A State Tournament.

The Woodlands High School baseball team completed a sweep of Plano West on Saturday in their Region II-5A playoff series at Georgetown East View High School. Carter Hope followed up Ryan Burnett’s Friday gem with a nine-strikeout, three-hit, six-inning performance.

Kolbi Brown delivered a three-run homer to highlight a five-run first inning and the game was never in doubt after that.

“Still rollin’ and still eatin’,” Brown tweeted after the game.

Alex Dunlap added icing on the cake with a three-run blast in the fourth inning and the state’s top-ranked Highlanders (33-3) advance to the Region II-5A finals next week against Rockwall, which swept No. 9 state-ranked Klein Collins.

The best-of-three series will be played Disch-Falk Field on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. The first game is set for 7 p.m. Friday. The teams play Game 2 at 1 p.m. Saturday. A third game, if necessary, follows Game 2.

Blaine Gillespie got the Highlanders on the scoreboard first when his grounder was booted allowing Charlie Warren to score the first run of the game. Josh Shaw lifted a sacrifice fly that plated Brandon Manger, courtesy runner for Alex Dunlap, who walked.

Gillespie and Chris Andritsos, who singled, both scored Brown’s bomb. Andritsos pitched the final inning, striking out one.

Warren and Luke Sherley crossed the plate in front of Dunlap’s fourth-inning homer.

Josh Pruitt rounded out The Woodlands’ seven-hit attack with a single.