After getting swept by West in District 7-3A play, the Lady Hornets got revenge Tuesday night with a 4-1 win in a Class 3A Region I quarterfinal at Lady Tiger Field.
“I’m always a little bit intimidated when I play West,” Gatesville coach Michelle Bartch said. “I have a lot of respect for Coach (Guyla) Smith. She’s been around the game a long time and she knows it inside out. Her kids are always very disciplined and classy. When you play them you know they are going to make the big plays on defense, get solid pitching and get the key hits.”
It was exactly those things that made West (22-5) the 7-3A champion with wins of 3-2 and 2-1 over Gatesville. But on Tuesday, it was the Lady Hornets (28-8) who had the timely hitting, solid pitching and the defensive gem when needed.
And almost all of that came from senior shortstop Kylie Nichols.
Nichols got an infield single to start off the fourth inning and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Cassie Morphet. She then scored on a single by Amber Colson down the left-field line. Colson was out trying to stretch the hit into a double, but the damage had already been done.
One inning later, the Lady Hornets loaded the bases with no outs on a walk by Katy Heck and singles by Megan Chartier and Rebecca Augeri. West got Emily Leib to hit a grounder to third, forcing out Heck at home. Then Randi Smith popped out to third and the Lady Trojans looked like they were going to avoid any damage.
But along came Nichols.
With the count at 2-2, Nichols sent an offering by West pitcher Ashley Anz to deep center field for a double, scoring all three runs.
“You know, she got hit in practice the other day by a line drive,” Bartch said. “And she was babying her hand a little bit after her first two at bats. She said it was hurting off the vibration of the bat, so I thought about putting in a pinch hitter. I asked her if she needed a pinch hitter, and she said, ‘No, Coach, give me one more at-bat.’ And she smashes that three-run double.”
And then Nichols came up big in the field in the bottom half of the inning.
West leadoff hitter Brooke Keel hit a leadoff double. After Megan Allred struck out, Brooke Morrison softly grounded to first baseman Allison Aslin. She tried to apply the tag but missed, then threw wide to first, allowing Keel to score. Anz then hit a fly ball to right and it also was mishandled, putting runners on first and second with one out.
Breanna Pavlas followed with a grounder up the middle that looked like a certain single to at least load the bases, but along came Nichols again. The senior shortstop slid on her knees, made the stop and fired to second in time to gun down Kali Hunt, running for Anz. Gatesville got out of the inning when Leib - who pitched a four-hitter - struck out Kristyn Kolacek.
“That was huge,” Bartch said of Nichols’ play. “If she doesn’t make that play in the dirt that run scores and we have one out with runners at first and second. She doesn’t get in the dirt that often, so the fact she made that play in that situation was huge for us.”
Nichols’ explanation for the play and staying in the game to hit the three-run double was simple.
“I wanted to win,” she said.
Now she and the Lady Hornets advance to play Levelland in the Region I semifinals, with the format, dates and times yet to be determined. Bartch indicated that tentatively the teams were looking at Angelo State in San Angelo or Abilene Christian for the location.
mhood@temple-telegram.com
