Livingston softball made quick work of Northside High, obtaining the run-rule 16-0 after two and a half innings in the bi-district round at C.E. King Friday.
Northside came into the contest undefeated, but the Lady Lions would be the toughest competition they faced all year. With a 16-0 mark, the Lady Panthers easily took District 20-4A, made up of Houston ISD schools.
Taylor Wright started the Lady Lions off with an infield single, and Brianna Nelson followed with an RBI-double. Shelby Dickerson walked, Corinne Henderson slugged a two-run triple, and Breonna Niederhofer drove her in with a base hit. Jacie David also tripled to score a run and Raigen Long hit a sacrifice fly to get the runner in from third. A walk by Callie Garcia along with a few stolen bases and an infield single by Wright produced another run. Nelson walked to set up Dickerson, who drove in two with a double. Henderson capped the scoring with an RBI-single, making it 10-0 after one frame.
Brooke Anderson started the game in the circle with a walk, but was dominant afterward. She struck out nine consecutive Lady Panther hitters for the win. Northside never put the ball into play.
“Going in, we knew nothing about this team,” Lady Lion coach Heather Mosser said. “Kids being kids, they checked social media and found a few videos of their play. We knew it was going to be much like a few of the teams that we played early on in the season in a couple of tournaments, so we just focused on how we beat them. It was a lot of patience at the plate and really aggressive baserunning. We stole every time we got on base. That was the game plan going in. My pitcher did not give up a hit and had nine strikeouts with one walk. That is a pretty good game right there. Our mentality was aggressive on offense and on the bases, for sure. We wanted to focus on defense in case they did put the ball in play.”
In the bottom of the second, Niederhofer was hit by a pitch and stole a base. David drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, Anderson walked and stole a few bags, Long walked, and Garcia beat out an infield single to produce a run. Wright drove in two with a single and Dickerson ended the scoring on a two-run inside-the-park home run.
“In a game like this, it can get sloppy,” Mosser said. “One thing we were really trying to focus on was keeping our intensity locked in and just getting reps. I feel like we did execute that. The next round for us is going to be very competitive and more like a playoff game.”
That next round will feature the team that eliminated Livingston from the postseason last year. Little Cypress-Mauriceville defeated Hudson in the bi-district round and already hold a district title, going undefeated in 18-4A.
“They are good, and we will be evenly matched,” Mosser said of Little Cypress-Mauriceville. “I did watch a little bit of them last night and their top five in the lineup are pretty decent, as are our top five. Their pitching is decent, as is ours. I really think it is just going to be who is going to show up.”
Game 1 is set for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. on the campus of Lamar University. Game 2 will move to Cleveland High Friday at 5:30 p.m., with Game 3 following, if needed.
