Third time’s the charm: Lewisville softball rallies for first state title since 2018
Lewisville won its first softball state title since 2018 with a 8-6 comeback victory over Lake View in Game 2 of the Class 1A Softball State Championship Series Wednesday night.
This was the Lions’ third-straight trip to the finals, losing to Bamberg-Ehrhardt in 2022 and Hannah-Pamplico last year.
“It feels great to get that monkey off our back,” Lewisville head coach Jerry Thomas said. “I told the girls we’re tired of being bridesmaids, time to be the bride. This is our third year, and we wanted to take it tonight. We didn’t want to go to a Game 3.”
Lewisville trailed 5-1 after the third inning aftergifting Lake View two unearned runs on four errors.
The Lions found themselves in a similar position in last year’s state championship series against Hannah-Pamplico.
They were won the first game, but errors in the second game caused the team to unravel as they lost the final two games by a combined 19-6.
This year, Lewisville found its composure, knocking in seven runs over the next two innings to take a 8-6 lead after the sixth inning.
“We’ve lost for two years in a row and we knew we had to fight,” junior catcher Jordyn Miller said. “This team had the most fight out of all of them. We were not going down. I think we did really well with staying in the game, staying loud, staying big and just coming out with clutch hits when we needed to.”
A major turning point for the team was a 2-1 loss to Whitmire on April 17.
Thomas challenged his team to be not just better but smarter at the plate and between the base paths. Since then, Lewisville finished the season on an 11-game winning streak, scoring fewer than five runs once in that span.
“We had a completely different batting order that we had had all year, and we weren’t consistent,” senior shortstop Saleena Rollins said. “We didn’t have the bats that game and we made a few errors, and they ended up with the win. After that, we just went hard and focused as a team and stayed hungry. We changed up the batting order, and we’ve been more efficient ever since.”
Lewisville has only two seniors on its roster, with Rollins being the lone senior starter.
The team started three eighth graders, three freshman, a sophomore, a junior and a senior.
However, most of the Lions’ younger pieces have a lot of experience like sophomore starting pitcher Sarah Owens, who served as the starter for each of Lewisville’s previous two trips to the state championship game.
Owens pitched much better against Lake View over the final four innings, allowing just one run while striking out three.
In previous seasons the team would crack under the pressure of a big lead or a big moment, she said.
“We know that we don’t need to collapse under all the pressure,” Owens said. “We know we just need to play our game because we know we can do it. We know we have all of the abilities, and we just have to stay calm and cool. Every inning, every time I (step to the mound), we all just breathe. We want to be one, and keeping it calm and also having fun just lets us very loose and not so uptight.”
Owens pitched a complete game with four earned runs and seven strikeouts while going 2-for-3 with an RBI from the plate. Freshman infielder Mollie Deese went 3-3 with three RBIs.
Thomas said for a team this young to win state is a great accomplishment, but they want more.
“Next year starts after tonight,” Thomas said. “We’re going to enjoy this one tonight. We’re going to find who’s going to replace our seniors, and we’re going to see who’s ready to step up for next year. We can wait for next year to get started.”
Lewisville finishes its season at 25-4.
