H.S. softball: Roach, Forsan shut down Bangs for region final berth

Maddie Roach found her groove during Forsan’s 1-0 victory over Bangs on Friday at ACU’s Poly Wells Field.

The freshman pitcher found herself dancing at times during breaks on the mound. She liked the beat the Lady Buffs’ fans were knocking out with their homemade shakers.

“So, the moms had just made shakers at the team dinner, and they were putting on a sick beat,” Roach said. “I was just vibing with it.”

Roach did a little more dancing after throwing a four-hit shutout, sending Forsan to the Region I-2A finals for the first time in 13 years.

“It’s surreal,” Roach said. “This is what I’ve been dreaming of since kindergarten.”

A day after the Lady Buffs scored six runs in the seventh inning to beat Bangs 16-13 in the series' opener, the teams combined for 10 hits and one run.

That one run came in the bottom of the first. Lybertee Rodriguez walked with one out, and K’Leigh Williams followed with a hit. Rodriguez scored on Kelcey Zubiate’s single up the middle.

Bangs pitcher Abby Wolf scattered three hits the rest of the way, but her team couldn’t come up with a timely hit against Roach.

Just a day earlier, Roach had given up 17 hits, while Wolf allowed 25.

“That’s a good team,” Forsan coach Shanna Taylor said. “I had already told mine they were going to come for us today. It won’t be an easy game. They were going to have to play ball today, and they did. I can’t say enough about both teams today.”

Missed opportunity

The Lady Dragons (28-6) had their best chance in the sixth.

Neeley Bradley reached on an error, and Wolf followed with a single, pushing the tying run to second. But Ary’anna Mealing hauled in Julianna Ethridge’s fly ball in left to end the threat. Ethridge had doubled with two outs in the fourth but was left stranded.

Roach, who has been playing travel ball since she was in kindergarten, struck out two and walked one in the complete-game victory. She retired the first two batters in five of the seven innings.

Roach, three outs away from the win to start the seventh, gave her teammates a little pep talk.

“I was excited, but I talked to my team before (the seventh),” Roach said. “I was like, ‘We’ve got this. We’ve done this before. We can’t let up.’ I knew we would do good. I have confidence in them.”

Sierra Lorah reached on a one-out walk, and she almost beat the throw to second on Emily Baker’s grounder deep in the hole at short. It was close, but she was ruled out at second on the force. K’Dynce Speck then caught Bailey Mendieta’s pop to second to end the game.

Wolf, a sophomore, allowed a run on five hits. She struck out one, hit one and walked one.

“I am very proud of how they played,” Bangs coach Leslea Miller said. “They came out today a totally different team. Defensively, we were spot on. Abby was kicking tail in the circle, keeping them off balance and trusting her defense to do its job. Today was a totally different game than yesterday.”

Lady Buffs move on

Forsan (28-8) advances to play either Colorado City or Stamford in the region finals next week. Not bad for a team with only two seniors.

“I’m really proud of them,” Taylor said. “They worked really hard this year.”

Stamford, the two-time defending region champion, beat Colorado City 2-0 in the series’ opener Thursday. Game 2 is 1 p.m. Saturday at Abilene High. Game 3, if needed, would follow.

Bangs was making its deepest playoff run since reaching the region finals in 2014. Hawley ended the Lady Dragons’ season with 7-0 and 2-1 victories that year.

Bangs reached the region quarterfinals in 2016 but had made the playoffs just three times since then before this season – all first-round exits.

It’s a young Bangs team, too. Thompson has three seniors and one junior in its starting lineup, while four sophomores and a freshman round out the lineup. The bench is all sophomores and freshmen.

“I’m going to miss my seniors a great deal,” Miller said. “They are the voices of this team. They have led this team and encouraged this team and played very important roles in the field. But we are very young. I couldn’t be more proud of these girls and the heart that they played with all season long.”