Austin-area softball: All eyes in 26-6A are on Tuesday's Dripping Springs-Del Valle game

Butch Hart
Updated ·7 min read
Vista Ridge's Reagan Pavesi tries to beat out Round Rock pitcher Maddy Azua's throw to first base on a bunt play during their March 22 game. The Dragons won that game 1-0, but the Rangers closed out District 25-6A play with a 1-0 win over the Dragons last Friday, Round Rock's first district loss of the season.
Vista Ridge's Reagan Pavesi tries to beat out Round Rock pitcher Maddy Azua's throw to first base on a bunt play during their March 22 game. The Dragons won that game 1-0, but the Rangers closed out District 25-6A play with a 1-0 win over the Dragons last Friday, Round Rock's first district loss of the season.

Dripping Springs has played itself back into the fight for first place in District 26-6A after beating Westlake 12-0 and Lake Travis 8-2 last week to move into a three-way tie for first. The Tigers travel to Del Valle on Tuesday; the Cardinals also are tied for first.

Meanwhile, Johnson is at Akins after losing a tough game to Bowie and falling into the first-place tie. If Johnson wins, the Jaguars will be tied with the Dripping Springs-Del Valle winner for first place in 26-6A.

Taylor Anderson had two triples and drove in three runs while Kristen Zeman scored three times as Dripping Springs blanked Westlake behind the complete game two-hitter by Jordan Cox. Haiden Anderson and Erika Kanetzky had two hits each in the win. Anderson had four more hits in the win over Lake Travis. She and Cox both drove in two runs.

Del Valle set the stage for Tuesday's showdown for at least a share of the district title by beating Anderson 14-4 as Lori Castillo earned the win in the circle and Amani Howard scored four runs and drove in two runs with a pair of doubles.

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Austin High kept Bowie a game back of a four-way tie for first when the Maroons defeated the Bulldogs 6-5. Austin High lost to Johnson 5-2, lost to Akins 2-1 then beat Westlake 8-4 to round out its makeup game week. Bowie rebounded from the loss to Austin High by beating Johnson 6-4 as Kate Bookidis got the win. Valeria Feeney had five hits in five at-bats with three RBIs while Josie Busceme had two hits and stole her 25th base of the year on her 25th attempt.

Bowie also beat Akins 9-1 on the pitching of Cadie Hays. Feeney had two hits including a home run with four RBIs and Bella Nungary had two hits including a double and drove in a run.  Johnson beat Austin high 5-2 as Kylie Goad earned the win. Kinlee McGuire had two hits and drove in a run while Sydney Wager had three RBIs and a hit.

Round Rock takes 25-6A title behind Azua

District 25-6A completed play Friday night. Round Rock, Cedar Ridge, Vista Ridge and Stony Point take the top four places. Maddy Azua pitched a no-hitter and drove in both runs in the sixth inning as Round Rock defeated Cedar Ridge 2-0 to win the championship. Cedar Ridge rebounded to blank McNeil 15-0 and finish second with two district losses.

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Vista Ridge finished third as the Rangers saved the best for the end of district, defeating Round Rock 1-0 Friday night when Brooke Wells had a one-out triple in the top of the sixth inning. Savannah Cockerill had a squeeze bunt single that scored pinch-runner Reagan Pavesi for the only district run that Azua has allowed. Rangers freshman Jaylee Agnew singled while Cockerill had two hits.

Vista Ridge junior pitcher Mikala Ham tossed a seven-inning complete game shutout while striking out seven. Ham lost to the Dragons 1-0 in their first district meeting. Stony Point beat Manor 4-1 and Westwood 9-0 to clinch the fourth district playoff position.

Class 5A: What a week for LASA

In 23-5A, Georgetown crushed Cedar Creek 17-0 in three innings as Cambree Creager pitched two hitless innings with four strikeouts and Macie McLellan closed out the game with a hitless third. Samantha Swan had three hits, including a home run, and had five RBIs while catcher Kennedy Miller added three hits, including a homer and two RBIs. In other district games, Elgin blanked Bastrop 2-0, East View shut out Hendrickson 10-0 and Pflugerville scored 11 runs in the first inning to beat Connally 17-0.

In 24-5A, LASA outscored three district opponents 62-3 in three games. In other action, Crockett beat Northeast Early College 15-0 with an eight-run second inning. In 25-5A, Liberty Hill blanked Lehman 12-0 and Lockhart 11-0.  In the Lehman win, Panther Rylee Slimp had four hits and drove in a run while Kylie Kirk had a double, a triple and a home run.

In the Lockhart shutout, Ashton Williams hit a home run with two RBIs, Slimp and Lyssa Petru both had two hits while Ashleigh Heiderscheit had three hits, including two doubles and three RBIs. Rouse crushed Lockhart 18-2 as every Raiders player had at least one hit. Delaney Vannoy led the way, going 4-for-4, and Madi George had two home runs. Hays edged Rouse 10-9 to stay one game back of Liberty Hill in the standings.

4A: Blowouts aplenty in District 25-3A

In 24-4A, first-place Burnet blanked Jarrell 6-0 while Gateway College Prep remained a game back by beating Lampasas 3-2. In 22-4A, Caldwell clinched the district title by beating La Grange 4-0 while Taylor beat Giddings 18-8 and Smithville slammed Manor New Tech 23-1.

In District 25-3A, Llano stung Brady 12-0, Comfort shut out Ingram Moore 20-0 and Blanco blanked Florence 10-0.  In 27-2A, Milano beat Rosebud-Lott 11-1, Bremond edged Thrall 4-3 and Thorndale won twice, beating Chilton 17-1 and Bartlett 17-2.  Johnson City has clinched the district championship in 28-2A, but the Eagles lost a tough game with home school FEAST of San Antonio 16-1.

Hyde Park beat San Antonio Providence 12-2 as Bella Milicia had two hits with two RBIs while scoring twice. Cariana Stout had two this and scored twice. Olivia Villanueva drove in three runs with two hits, including a home run. The Panthers had 21 home runs on the season and have scored a school-record 450 runs. Taylor Haywood is 23-1 in the circle with 209 strikeouts while Bella Milicia is 11-0 for Hyde Park.

Round Rock's Azua earns top player honors

Player of the week: Maddy Azua, sr., Round Rock. The Texas State-bound pitcher threw a no-hitter and drove in the winning runs as Round Rock won its 13th straight game and clinched the District 25-6A championship by beating second-place Cedar Ridge 2-0.  Azua ended up allowing just one run in district play all season.

Surging LASA gets our top team nod

Team of the week: LASA. The Raptors (17-2, 13-0) won three district games last week, 18-3 over Northeast Early College on Monday, then 15-0 over McCallum on Wednesday and then 29-0 over Juan Navarro last Friday for their 11th straight win and the 26-5A championship. It's the program's first district title in two decades. Sophie Sun is hitting .769 with eight home runs while Rose Harrelson is hitting .617 with five homers and eight pitching victories.

— Butch Hart

Fab Fives

Class 6A

1. Dripping Springs 26-7, 11-3

2. Del Valle 18-13, 11-3

3. Johnson 22-6-1, 11-3

4. Round Rock 18-9-1, 13-1

5. Cedar Ridge 22-4, 12-2

Class 5A

1. Georgetown 29-4, 12-0

2. Liberty Hill 22-6, 10-1

3. LASA 17-2, 13-0

4. Hays 21-9, 10-2

5. Elgin 21-9, 10-2

Class 4A and others

1. Hyde Park 32-2, 6-1

2. Johnson City 20-6-1, 13-0

3. Burnet 20-10, 8-1

4. Llano 20-4, 7-3

5. Gateway Charter Prep 17-11, 7-2

This week's top area games

Tuesday's top games

TMI-Episcopal at Hyde Park, 5 p.m.

Milano at Thorndale, 6 p.m.

Dripping Springs at Del Valle, 7 p.m.

Elgin at Pflugerville, 7 p.m.

Liberty Hill at Hays, 7 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: A three-way tie atop District 26-6A will have to be sorted out quickly