“What goes around comes around,” and that’s what happened when the Aubrey Lady Chaps softball team completed their series sweep against the Canton Lady Eagles on May 15, punching their ticket to the state tournament.
The Lady Eagles won last season’s regional final series two games to none, but the Lady Chaps returned the favor this year, with a 6-5 win in Game 1 and a 9-4 comeback win in Game 2.
“I'm so proud of our kids,” Aubrey head softball coach James Ramsey said. “We talked about it when this series started. It doesn't matter if it's good, bad, or ugly—no matter how it looks, just find ways to win ball games, and that's what they did here tonight to clinch the region. We were down and struggling for a while, [but] they just kept fighting, and we finally punched through.”
Canton got home first after a bunt from Eaglettes’ third baseman Addy Henderson forced an error from Aubrey’s defense that allowed catcher Kara Pride to cross the plate, putting Canton up 1-0 in the first inning.
Aubrey answered with a triple hit by Tamia Cherry that drove in two runs, putting the Lady Chaps on top 2-1 in the third inning.
Lady Chaps’ first baseman Judah Van Rijn added to Aubrey’s lead in the fourth inning with a double to right field that drove in one run, making it a three-score game.
The Eaglettes got their second run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Lady Chaps answered again in the top of the fifth inning when second baseman Molly Reid hit a line drive single to left field, driving in one run and maintaining Aubrey’s two-run lead.
Canton refused to go away, picking up two more runs in the bottom of the fifth and tying the score at 4 all.
The two teams continued to trade outs for the remainder of regulation, going into overtime with the score still knotted 4-4.
Aubrey took the lead in the top of the eighth after an error from Canton’s defense allowed Tamia to get home, and Van Rijn hit a sacrifice fly to center, giving Reid the space to score and putting the Lady Chaps up 6-4.
Canton would add another run in the bottom of the eighth, but Aubrey held on to win 6-5.
The Eaglettes came out flying high in Game 2, with a home run shot followed by a line drive double that put Canton up 2-0 in the first inning.
Canton extended their lead to 3-0 with a double to left in the top of the fourth inning, but Aubrey
Martin Edwards/The Post-Signal tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a three-run home run from catcher Abby-Lynch Buxton.
“I was seeing the ball really well, and I told myself the first pitch that I saw outside or middle high, I was going to drive it over the fence, and I did,” she said. “… It really fired us up, because honestly, our energy was a little bit down after falling behind 3-0, and it was already the bottom of the fourth. That really lit a fire, and everybody after that just started hitting.”
Canton moved back in front with another solo home run in the fifth inning, but Lady Chaps’ pitcher Mya Cherry clipped the Eaglettes’ wings with a two-run homer that gave Aubrey its first lead of the game, 5-4.
“It felt so good to get the goahead to run for my team and then also get a run for myself,” she said. “Pitching in the circle, sometimes, it's kind of hard, so to get that lead run for my [confidence] was awesome.”
Aubrey used the momentum from Mya’s home run to shut down Canton’s offense while adding four more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and taking the win 9-4.
Ramsey said the Lady Chaps have more they want to accomplish this season but shared how proud he was of the team after seeing them overcome a major hurdle.
“We still have a way to go,” he said. “We want to keep working and keep moving on, but it's just so fun and rewarding to see their work and the time that they put in pay off.”
The Lady Chaps were scheduled to start a best-of-three series against the Snyder Lady Tigers on Wednesday evening, with Game 2 scheduled for Thursday and Game 3 at 2 p.m. Saturday, if necessary.
All games will be played at Stephenville High School in Stephenville.
The results were not available by press time.
