HS Softball Playoffs: Come Back Victory Pushes The Woodlands to Regional Finals

Madisonville, TX -- Once again, Madisonville was the location for the final game in Regional Semifinals against The Woodlands and Midway. In game 1, The Woodlands struggled in the circle to retire the Midway lineup and fell 8-7. Game 2 was huge for The Woodlands as Saylor Davis dominated the batter’s box and brought in 6 runs herself. With a Grand Slam and a hand full of homeruns, The Woodlands forced a game 3 to decide who would move on.

To say it was a roller coaster of emotions was an understatement. It was like The Woodlands was a different team than last night or that Midway stepped up and brought their all for the last game. For the first half of the game, The Woodlands struggled to get anyone to cross over the plate. Midway on the other hand instantly had a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Saylor Davis was the starting pitcher once again for The Woodlands. With her heavy hand and accurate fastball, she struggled to find the tight strike zone set up by the home plate umpire. This set Midway up for many bases loaded situations which they were only able to capitalize on a few times.

Kaelyn Zusi drives the ball just above the 2nd base glove.

Top of the 5th
Midway - 5
The Woodlands - 1

1 out.@TWHSSoftball pic.twitter.com/dKW756jONH

— Woodlands Online Sports (@WOLsports) May 21, 2022

Then the 6th inning happened. For whatever reason, The Woodlands set back, got comfortable and starting hitting bombs like last night. Saylor Davis was once again feared by Midway and was intentionally walked to first base. As The Woodlands calmed their nerves, and took the momentum back from Midway, they found themselves with the lead (7-5) going into the bottom of the 6th inning.

What an inning for The Woodlands as they rally in 5 runs and take the lead!

Bottom of the 6th
Mideay - 5
The Woodlands - 7@TWHSSoftball pic.twitter.com/iOGywjOU0D

— Woodlands Online Sports (@WOLsports) May 21, 2022

Midway wasn’t going to go away that easy and quickly brought one in off of a base hit to the outfield. As Chesney Davis tried to close out the inning, Midway hit a huge triple to the wall which brought in another run and tied the game going into the 7th and final inning.

The Woodlands was up first, which would give Midway the opportunity to end the game off of a walk off run if they were down. But Alannah Leach was able to bring a run in giving The Woodlands a 1 run lead. Midway gave a huge effort but the 1 run was enough and The Woodlands took the victory in game 3.

Ball game! And series! The Woodlands pulls it off and move on!

Final
Midway - 7
The Woodlands - 8@TWHSSoftball pic.twitter.com/6HT54iM2HM

— Woodlands Online Sports (@WOLsports) May 21, 2022

One word, “Grit” said The Woodlands head coach Borths describing the series. “We were down, but we were never out,” which says a lot since The Woodlands has had to come back from many elimination games against teams like Langham Creek, Grand Oaks, and now Midway.

The Woodlands has another opponent next week but when asked about the seniors, coach Borths said, “Taylor Roberts is doing phenomenal out there. Ashley Taylor is our bull pin catcher and she does an excellent job making sure Chesney and the other pitchers are ready to come in. Shelby Moran is our spiritual leader, she gets the music going, she gets everyone hype in the dugout, she does all of our pregame routines. I can’t say enough about these seniors”

The Woodlands will have a week to prepare for the next opponent and get ready for the Regional Finals.