Atascocita outlasts The Woodlands

PORTER, Texas – They played three one-run games last year and started this year’s Region II-5A quarterfinals with an extra-inning thriller.

The Woodlands High School softball team (32-3) rallied for two runs in the eighth inning but Shelby McGlaun blasted a walk-off homer in the bottom half of the inning to lift Atascocita (30-1) to a 9-7 victory Thursday in the first game of a best-of-three Region II-5A quarterfinals playoff series at Porter High School.

The Lady Eagles, ranked No. 4 in the state and sixth nationally, trailed 7-5 entering the bottom of the eighth inning before tying the game at 7 and then winning it on a line-drive homer. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville but bad weather forced the teams to convene further south.

The Lady Highlanders, ranked No. 5 in the state and No. 8 in the nation, look to even the series when the two teams get together again at 7 p.m. Friday. A third game, if necessary would be played at 1 p.m. Saturday. All games are scheduled to be played at Porter High School.

The two teams met last season in the region quarterfinals with the Lady Highlanders taking the series, 2-1. All three were one-run games.

Atascocita extended its win streak to 12 games while The Woodlands, making its 11th consecutive playoff appearance, saw its 23-game streak snapped.

Kaitlyn Stavinoha gave the Lady Highlanders a short-lived 2-1 lead in the see-saw battle with an RBI-single in the top of the third inning. Stavinoha collected three of The Woodlands’ 14 hits. But Atascocita answered with two runs in its half of the inning to regain the lead.

Shelby Dublin swung the momentum in the Lady Highlanders’ favor in the fourth inning with a two-run homer and Aubrey Leach followed with a solo homer and a 5-3 lead. Leach led The Woodlands at the plate with four hits and two RBIs.

Atascocita fought back, scratching across the tying runs in the sixth inning, and the game reached the seventh inning in a 5-5 tie.

Emily Langkamp sent the game into extra innings when she relieved Caitlin Bartsch with two Kingwood runners on and no outs. She retired all three batters she faced in the seventh inning to bail the Lady Highlanders out of the jam.

Abby Langkamp worked the first three innings in the circle, allowing just two hits. The lefty struck out five before yielding to Bartsch.