Comeback Complete!

North Softball Tops Mesquite Poteet, Faces Waxahachie In Regional Semis

First-year McKinney North softball coach Dan Sedgwick made all the right moves in Saturday’s decisive playoff game with Mesquite Poteet, and the Lady Bulldogs rallied to reach the Class 4A regional semifinals with a 12-5 win at Plano Senior High.

Sedgwick, who sent Haley Wagner home on a risky play for the tying run in the seventh inning of Friday’s 4-3 win, went to his bench for two key moves in Game 3 of the best-of-three series. He replaced starting pitcher Ashliegh McLean with Lindsey Collings after just two innings and he pinch-hit Lindsey Meyers in a key at-bat in the bottom of the fourth. Both decisions played a part in the Lady Bulldogs rallying from a 5-2 deficit and eliminating the Lady Pirates (33-5) in the Region II-4A quarterfinals.

North (26-7-2) will meet Waxahachie (22-11) next week. The Lady Indians beat Red Oak 8-0 in the third game of their regional quarterfinal Saturday afternoon.

Meyers, a speedy sophomore outfielder, legged out an infield single that brought home Amy Kilpatrick and gave North a 6-5 lead in the fourth. Megan Knowles’ two-RBI single had tied the game for the Lady Bulldogs.

Collings, a junior, shut out the Lady Pirates and allowed just one hit in the final five innings, thanks to her effective off-speed pitches. She retired the Lady Pirates in order in the fifth and seventh innings.

Things did not look good for North after the first two innings. Poteet, ranked No. 1 among area Class 4A teams by The Dallas Morning News, scored once in the fourth and four times in the second on a combined seven hits. Lindsey Barsoum ripped triples to the wall in center field in both innings, with the second hit scoring three runners. Barsoum scored the game’s first run on Jordan Hartsell’s bloop single.

But the Lady Bulldogs rallied in the bottom of the first. Kathy Shelton and Lindsey Post both reached base before Poteet starter Bradie Baker walked Knowles and Sarah Becker to force in a run. Amanda Parsonage’s sharp grounder was trapped by the shortstop, who threw home to force out Post, but the catcher, hoping for a double play, overthrew third base, and Knowles raced home.

While the middle of North’s lineup went a combined 2-for-12, third baseman Tayler Burnside had her biggest day at the plate. The junior went three-for-four with a double and scored twice.

Shelton, also with three hits, loaded the bases with a bloop single that hit the left field line in the five-run fifth. Burnside scored on a fielder’s choice before Amy Kilpatrick hit a bases-loaded double to right center that put the game out of reach. Shelton added an insurance run in the sixth on an inside-the-park homerun. The junior, already committed to Baylor, drove a high fly to deep right center that bounced off the bottom of the fence. She raced around third without hesitating and slide home head-first to beat the tag.

Post and Kilpatrick each had two hits for McKinney North, which lost Game 1, 2-1, and rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the seventh inning of Game 2.