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Lady Highlanders storm past Oak Ridge

By: Todd Hveem, WOL Sports
| Published 03/21/2014

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THE WOODLANDS, Texas - The Woodlands Lady Highlanders turned a nail-biter into a walk in the park on Friday night at Oak Ridge High School.

But the Lady Highlanders’ 11-0, six-inning softball victory over the Lady War Eagles didn’t come without some drama and controversy.

Leading 1-0 with one out and the bases loaded in the top of the fifth inning, The Woodlands’ Shelby Dublin belted a fastball that looked to be headed into the right-center field gap. But Oak Ridge center fielder Gabby Davila made a spectacular running catch, and then tossed the ball to second base to double off Sidney Salmans, who was running when the ball left the bat.

The Woodlands’ Kelcy Leach, who laid down a sacrifice bunt that was misplayed earlier in the inning, was tagging up and scored before the third out was made at second base. But the umpires had to gather with both coaches and discuss the play for almost 15 minutes before it was ruled the run would count and the out was made, giving The Woodlands a 2-0 lead after 5-½ innings.

The Lady War Eagles managed only two hits off Lady Highlander junior starter Abby Langkamp, who went the distance with seven strikeouts. She has verbally committed to play college softball at Baylor.

The Lady Highlanders, who improved to 22-2 overall and 6-0 in District 14-5A, put away the game with a whopping nine runs in the top of the sixth.

Salmans highlighted the inning with a long grand slam home run to right field to give her club an 8-0 advantage. Leach also had a three-run home run in the inning, while freshman Emily Langkamp contributed a two-run single.

“Honestly, I was not thinking about hitting a grand slam,’’ said Salmans. “I just wanted to hit the ball hard and move the runners (along).’’

Abby Langkamp also had a single and a double in the contest. She was almost unhittable for the first five innings of the game.

“It (playing behind Abby) is awesome,’’ Salmans said. “We have a lot of confidence in her. We know she has our back.’’

Oak Ridge shortstop Amber Serrett, who is headed to LSU, broke up the no-hitter with a two-out single to center field in the fourth. She also made a sparkling infield play in the fifth when she speared Kaitlyn Stavinoha’s one-hopper and threw out Amy Cimera at the plate.

Lady War Eagle second baseman Cheyenne Cavanaugh had a double in the seventh for the Lady War Eagles, who dropped to 12-8 overall and 4-2 in district play.

“Our defense was solid,’’ Salmans said. “We knew she (Oak Ridge pitcher Jessica Rodriguez) was hittable. We had to just keep swinging the bat and being aggressive.’’

The Woodlands’ only losses this season came against Bellaire and Cinco Ranch in a pre-district tournament.

Oak Ridge’s other district loss came against Lufkin.





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