Aledo fights off Abilene Wylie, sweeps Region I-5A semifinal softball series

STEPHENVILLE – The Aledo softball team is on a mission, and the Ladycats cleared another hurdle this weekend.

Macy Graf drove in four runs, and Brenlee Gonzales threw four scoreless innings in relief as Aledo beat Wylie 7-3 on Friday at the Tarleton State softball field.

Aledo (32-2), which won the opener 14-2 in five innings on Thursday, swept the Region I-5A semifinal series. The Ladycats, who reached the state finals last year, advance to play either Lubbock Monterey or Burleson Centennial in the region finals next week.

There was no celebration afterward, and Aledo coach Heather Myers said some of that is her team’s determination to return to state and win it all while also showing respect for their opponent.

“They are hungry. We are on a mission,” Myers said. “Don’t get me wrong. We want to win state. That’s our goal, but we also want to do it the right way.”

Wylie (23-9), which finished second in District 4-5A behind Monterey, acquitted itself well after letting the opener get away early Thursday. A seven-run second staked the Ladycats to an 8-0 lead in that game. Game 2 was a one-run game through three innings.

“It was much better,” Wylie coach Heather Collier said. “This is how we wanted to come out and compete. And, yeah, there were a couple of things that were like, ‘Oh,’ you know – balls in our glove (that we didn’t hang on to), just simple things. But in a game like this when you’re playing a capable opponent like we are then maybe they don’t seem so simple. I was much more pleased with us playing our softball for sure.”

Lady Bulldogs’ starter Rylee Moore allowed seven runs on eight hits. She struck out four and walked three in the complete-game effort.

“I thought Rylee Moore did a heck of a job,” Collier said. “We really had to mix it up on their hitters. Their whole lineup is tough. We made some good plays, made some good stops. I thought we battled offensively. The score might show just three runs, but we deep in the count even when they changed pitchers. I was proud of our fight.”

Yet Wylie made too mistakes – committing five errors. After collecting three runs on six hits through the first three innings against Aledo starter Nathalie Touchet, Gonzales took over with a 5-3 lead and allowed only one base runner – a one-out walk in the sixth. The left-hander struck out three.

“It’s different when that lefty comes in,” Collier said. “It’s a different dynamic. We knew and kind of prepared for it, but it’s still something hard you’ve got to do in the moment.”

Myers thought her team needed a change more so to reset its mindset than a lack of faith in Touchet.

“Some balls were falling that don’t normally fall for her,” Myers said of Touchet. “We made some errors we don’t typically make. With those two things combined, they were scoring runs she’s not used to.

“Bringing Brenlee in was the right call. She’s always ready to go. She’s a good closer. She’s a good starter. She’s a good pitcher all the way around. It’s good to have on her on staff, and she’s just a sophomore.”

Fighting back

Reese Farrar’s two-out double put the Lady Bulldogs up 1-0 in the first inning.

Aledo answered with a four-run second inning – and never trailed the rest of the day. Presley Hull led off with a triple and scored on Ana Flores’ ground out to second. Allison Mallard followed with a double, and Maddy Jarvis kept the inning alive with a two-out single after Moore struck out Reagan Davis. Graf chased everyone home with a double and an error on the play allowed her to take third. She scored on an errant pickoff throw.

Wylie got a run back in the second as Cameron Gregory stroked a two-out double. Kat Martinez, who reached on a two-out error, scored on the hit.

Wylie pulled within a run when Kynslee George scored on a one-out passed ball in the third. Moore led off the inning with a single, and George, her courtesy runner, took second on Hanna Hood’s ground out before taking third on a wild pitch. She scored before Farrar notched her second hit of the game.

It would be the Lady Bulldogs’ last hit of the season.

Aledo tacked on a run in the fourth as Davis doubled and scored when Graf reached on a three-base error.

Graf added an RBI single in the sixth, and Jarvis scored on Marissa Powell’s sacrifice fly in the inning for a 7-3 lead.

Another deep run

Once it was all over, a tearful Collier marveled at her team’s deep run.

Wylie has reached at least the region quarterfinals since making the leap to Class 5A the 2018-19 season. The Colony beat the Lady Bulldogs in the region semifinals in 2019 en route to a state tournament appearance, and Monterey beat them in the region quarterfinals last year.

“I’m proud of them,” Collier said. “I knew we could get to here, but sometimes you just don’t know. … I’ve been around them so much they’re like my girls. They are my girls. Just everything they do. We don’t have too many who are straight softball. The grades they keep, it’s unbelievable what they do in the classroom. They have jobs. They play other sports. I’m proud of them for having a heck of year. Not just the softball season but being the student-athletes that they are.”

The Lady Bulldog had one senior.

“I hope they can see we were one of 16 teams left out of 251 in the state of Texas, and we’re up against the team I think can be the state champion,” Collier said. “We’re there. We’re going to take a break, take some rest, but when we go to work, let’s go to work and see the things that we’ve got to do better to go further on this level.”

Joey D. Richards covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him at Twitter at ARN_Joey. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Aledo trips up Abilene Wylie for region semifinals softball berth