Atascocita overpowers College Park

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - The Atascocita Lady Eagles showed why they are ranked No. 4 in the state of Texas as they overpowered the College Park Lady Cavaliers 7-1 in Game One of their best-of-three Region II-5A bi-district playoff series Thursday night at College Park High School.

Game Two will be played at 7 p.m. Friday at Atascocita High School. Game Three, if necessary, will be played on Saturday.

The Lady Eagles, who won the District 13-5A title, broke open a close game with a pair of towering home runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

Kaitlyn Washington sent oohs and aahs throughout the near-capacity crowd when she blasted a solo home run that hit the top of the flagpole in center field to lead off the sixth inning. The solo blast, which traveled more than 250 feet, gave the visitors a 2-0 lead.

Atascocita pitcher Shelby McGlaun, who overpowered the College Park hitters for most of the night, blasted a two-run shot to left center in the seventh to put the finishing touches on the six-run victory.

College Park, which finished fourth in District 14-5A, had the bases loaded with only one out in the seventh, but managed only a single run when Julie Charbonneau scored on Aubrey Hanson’s fielder’s choice groundout.

The Lady Cavs’ pitcher, Peyton Hutchens, kept the powerful Atascocita hitters off-balance with a variety of off-speed pitches through the first five innings of the game.

In fact, Atascocita’s only run through the first five frames came on a throwing error in the top of the third inning.

But the Lady Eagles, who do not playing typical bunt-and-run softball like most high school teams, displayed their athleticism and skill in the final two frames to take control of the series.

Atascocita finished with eight hits, including three extra-base hits.

College Park was dazzling in the field for much of the game as Charbonneau threw out courtesy runner Courtney Nichols from right field with a perfect peg to catcher Ally Holland in the third.

The Lady Cavs also threw out a runner at second base after an errant throw into the outfield and made several nice catches on hard-hit line drives into the outfield.

But College Park finished the game with only two hits off the hard-throwing McGlaun, who finished with six strikeouts.

Hutchens had four strikeouts for the Lady Cavs.

Atascocita and College Park will be in the same district for the next two years.