Cedar Ridge rolls into state playoffs after notching 25th straight victory in 25-6A finale
Kendall Ward pitched a three-inning one-hitter, striking out seven of the nine outs as state- and nationally-ranked Cedar Ridge won its 25th straight game by beating McNeil 15-0. The District 25-6A champion Raiders will play the winner of Monday night's Del Valle-Johnson tiebreaker in the first round of the state softball playoffs later this week.
London Collins had two hits, including a home run, in the Raiders' win and Sierra Winer tripled.
Also in 25-6A: Vista Ridge slammed Round Rock 11-0 in five innings to finish second in district; the Rangers will meet the loser of the Bowie-Lake Travis game. Brooke Wells went the distance in the circle, allowing one hit while striking out nine, and she also hit a home run and was walked twice. Mikala Ham also hit a homer run for the Rangers while Jaylee Agnew added a double. ... Stony Point beat Manor, so the Tigers and Dragons finished tied for third with Stony Point earning the third seed by virtue of sweeping their district series with Round Rock. Stony Point will play the winner of the Lake Travis-Bowie game while Round Rock draws 26-6A champion Dripping Springs.
A tight finish in District 26-6A
The final week of the regular season was packed with drama as the District 26-6A race ended with a tie for second place and also a tie for third place, forcing a pair of Monday night tiebreaker matchups: Bowie at Lake Travis to settle the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds behind district champion Dripping Springs, and Johnson at Del Valle for fourth place and a bi-district game against Cedar Ridge.
Westlake, which just missed playoffs, beat Bowie 6-4 last Tuesday, knocking the Dawgs out of a three-way tie for first. But Bowie rebounded Friday night by beating Lake Travis 7-4 and dropping the Cavaliers out of a tie for first while Dripping Springs blasted Anderson to claim the district title. Lake Travis had beaten Austin High 3-1 on Tuesday.
Johnson blanked Akins 11-0 to finish tied with Del Valle, which had dropped an eight-inning 2-1 contest to Dripping Springs on Tuesday. The Cardinals returned home Friday to beat Austin High 6-3 and tie Johnson for the final playoff spot with Westlake finishing one game back of the pair.
Around Class 5A
Liberty Hill takes 25-5A: Rylee Slimp hit a home run as Liberty Hill clinched the 25-5A championship by beating Glenn. Bella Nicholson and Hadley McBeath each had extra base hits for the Panthers. ... Hays finished second in district while Rouse, Glenn and Leander finished in a three-way tie for third. On Saturday, Leander beat Glenn 10-0 in five innings and Rouse 4-3 in 10 innings to take third; Rouse and Glenn were scheduled to play Monday night for fourth place.
Georgetown wins another 23-5A title: Georgetown repeated as district champions after beating Bastrop 11-0, while Elgin and East View tied for second. Elgin drew the second seed while Hendrickson and Bastrop tied for the final playoff spot. Hendrickson shocked Elgin 3-2 to earn its tie while Braelynn Williams hit for the cycle as Pflugerville beat Cedar Creek 18-8 and East View pounded Connally 15-0.
LASA takes 24-5A: Crockett beat LBJ 21-0 and LASA beat Travis as the Raptors claimed the District 24-5A crown with the Cougars second.
Around Central Texas
Caldwell won District 22-4A after beating Manor New Tech 20-0 while La Grange placed second by beating fourth-place Giddings 15-0 and Smithville got a superb pitching effort from Addison Otto to beat Taylor 3-2 and take third.
Gateway College Prep won 24-4A with a 9-1-mark, one game ahead of second place Burnet, while Lampasas finished third and Lago Vista fourth. And state-ranked Llano won District 5-3A followed by Blanco, Florence and Ingram Moore. The Yellowjackets are 19-2, ranked fourth in the TGCA Class 3A state poll. ... Thorndale won 27-2A with Milano second, followed by Thrall and Bremond.
Dripping Springs rolls into postseason
Team of the week: Dripping Springs. At one point, the Tigers were 4-3 and in fifth place in District 26-6A before winning nine straight games to claim the outright district championship. The Tigers beat Del Valle 2-1 and Anderson 15-0 last week to cap off their ninth straight win.
Fab Fives
Class 6A
1. Cedar Ridge 25-1
2. Dripping Springs 24-11
3. Vista Ridge 21-6
4. Bowie 21-8
5. Lake Travis 22-12
Class 5A
1. Georgetown 28-7
2. Liberty Hill 20-6
3. Hays 19-14
4. Elgin 18-8
5. LASA 15-7
Class 4A/others
1. Hyde Park 31-5
2. Llano 19-2
3. Gateway College Prep 21-6-2
4. Thorndale 21-10
5. Burnet 15-9-1
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin-area high school softball teams prepare for the playoffs
