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Softball: Flower Mound locks up No. 3 seed in District 8-5A
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
PLANO -- Flower Mound's softball team will have a pressure-free District 8-5A finale Friday night when it hosts Allen as the Lady Jaguars secured the No. 3 seed Tuesday with an 8-3 victory over Plano West.
Flower Mound never trailed, striking first in the top of the first inning when right fielder Cassie White reached on an error to open the game -- a sign of things to come -- and later came around to score on an RBI grounder from Brooke Holloway.
The Lady Jaguars (8-5) will finish third behind Plano East (11-2) and Plano Senior (11-2), while West (5-8) has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Annelise Oswalt allowed one run in five innings to earn the win before giving way to Taylor Nabors for two frames of relief for the Lady Jaguars.
"Annelise has been throwing great for us and this will be a good little break for her to get going into the playoffs," Larriba said. "We have trust in all of our pitchers, though, and that's why we brought in Taylor late. In the playoffs, we could play a series, and everyone has to be ready to pitch. Taylor did a good job tonight."
Victoria Brown went the distance on Senior Night for the Lady Wolves with seven strikeouts. However, the defense didn't do one of two West seniors any favors.
The Lady Wolves committed seven errors, including at least one in each of the first five innings.
The Lady Jaguars, meanwhile, were at their finest in the field.
Third baseman Mauriana Jamele had five assists, including a diving stop to take away extra bases from West's Yoona Lee with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, while left fielder Emilee Burkhardt sealed the game with a diving grab on a liner from Margo Beck with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
"Our defense was solid tonight," Larriba said. "And that's what it comes down to a lot of times in this district."
Perhaps Flower Mound's oddest out of the season was recorded with one down in the bottom of the fourth when a West batter and runner on first thought it was ball four and tried to advance to first and second, respectively. However, it was just the third ball and the runner was tagged out 2-1-4.
Still, West refused to go down easily, hanging tight and eventually pulling to within three runs at 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning following a two-run double from Kelly Burke. Beck scored West's other run, reaching on a double in the bottom of the second before stealing third and crossing the plate on a subsequent wild pitch to tie the contest, 1-1.
Jamele's night wasn't limited to the field as the freshman sparked a rally with a leadoff triple in a two-run seventh inning. Katie St. Pierre finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs for the Lady Jaguars, while White crossed the plate three times and Ashley Fultz and Christy Lisenby had two hits apiece. Flower Mound also had six steals on the night.
"I thought we had a great approach at the plate tonight," Larriba said. "Victoria Brown is really tough. We were really able to put the ball in play and put the pressure on them. And then we got some timely hitting."
Lee and Holly Neese each chipped in two hits for West, which closes the regular season at 7 p.m. Friday at second-place Plano Senior.
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