One More Win, Austin

North Softball Tops Midway 1-0 Friday In Game 1 Of Regional Finals

In its last home game of the season, McKinney North needed just one more opportunity against second-ranked Waco Midway.

The Lady Bulldogs made the best of it.

Lindsay Post’s RBI double in the bottom of the sixth propelled third-ranked McKinney North to a 1-0 win over the second-ranked Pantherettes in Friday’s Game 1 of a best-of-three Region II playoff series.

The Lady Bulldogs (29-8-2) take on Midway in Game 2 starting at 5 p.m. Saturday at Baylor’s Getterman Stadium in Waco. If a Game 3 is necessary it will begin 30 minutes after the end of Game 2. Another win by McKinney North puts it in the Class 4A state tournament for the second straight season.

Friday’s victory didn’t come without some tense moments. The usually reliable North defense suffered a couple of lapses in the early innings. After a two-out single from Kayla Howard, the Pantherettes (26-6) put runners on second and third after a throwing error.

But starter Ashliegh McLean forced a ground out to end the damage. McLean faced runners on first and second in the third, but Lauren Griffith’s fly ball fell gently into right fielder Sarah Becker’s glove for the third out.

Leadoff hitter Kathy Shelton, who took three extra bases in the game on a steal, a passed ball, and an error, singled in the first and third innings, but was left stranded in scoring position both times. Midway starter Lizzy Kelly fanned key batters in both situations, including Post with Shelton standing on second in the third.

The duo, however, took advantage of their next opportunity. Shelton, who had three of the Lady Bulldogs’ six hits, blooped a single over the shortstop. The junior then stole second base with a head first, wrap-around slide. Post, one of three North seniors, drilled a 2-2 pitch over the center fielder’s head, scoring Shelton and coaxing the standing-room-only home faithful to their feet.

For Midway, Kelly struck out seven North batters and didn’t allow a walk. McLean had one strikeout and just one walk, but her defense made both routine and not-so-routine plays, including two nifty snares by third baseman Tayler Burnside, to shut out the Pantherettes.

Amanda Parsonage added a double for North, missing a home run over the left field wall by three feet.