The Pilot Point Lady Cats and the Collinsville Lady Pirates varsity softball teams met for a doubleheader Saturday, with Pilot Point taking both games in a dominant fashion.
The Lady Cats played well on both sides of the field, winning the first game 11-5 and the second 8-1, en route to collecting their fifth and sixth wins of the season and bringing their overall record to 6-1.
“Battling the weather this week, I figured we’d be a little rusty …, but after the first inning, we got it all out of our systems,” Pilot Point head softball coach Kylie Roos said. “The pitchers did a good job of throwing strikes, and the defense was doing all the little things we've been working on. … We’re just trying to teach the game of softball, more so than just hit the ball and run, and I think they're doing a good job of learning and putting those little things into play come game day.”
Collinsville got on the scoreboard first after Pilot Point’s pitcher Lily Cooper threw two balls that got away from catcher Scarlett Bush, allowing Jaydee Matlock and Tessa Vannoy to cross home plate and giving the Lady Pirates a 2-0 lead at the top of the first inning.
Pilot Point took control of the game in the bottom of the first inning, sparked by a line drive single from Bush that brought Samantha Maxwell home, cutting the lead to 1 run.
Lady Cats shortstop Lilianna Govea gave Pilot Point the lead 4-2 with a 3-run bomb over the leftfield wall for the team’s first home run of the season.
“It felt good to be the first one to homer this year,” Govea said. “My mindset before I got to the plate was a little different than it ever has been. I was locked in, and I had a feeling that I was going to do something big, and I did, but I didn’t do it for myself. I did it for my team.”
Collinsville added 3 runs late, but Pilot Point continued to pour on the runs, with big hits from outfielder Shelby French, first baseman Autumn Gurney and third baseman Karla Garcia, taking the win 11-5.
Cooper recovered from her shaky start in the first inning, striking out 12 batters and allowing four hits and 5 runs.
“I played well because, for one, I kept Jesus in my mind the whole time, and my team pumped me up the whole way,” Cooper said. “Hearing our crowd [and] hearing my team led me through the whole game.”
The Lady Pirates scored first again in the second when Hailey Germany doubled on a fly to left field, bringing home Matlock to take a 1-0 lead at the top of the first.
The Lady Cats responded by reeling off 8 runs over the remainder of the game, taking the win 8-1.
Maxwell, Cooper and Bush led the way for Pilot Point, contributing six of the Lady Cats’ eight hits, with Govea adding three RBIs.
Maxwell spearheaded the Lady Cats’ defense, striking out eight batters and surrendering four hits and 1 run.
Roos credited the Pilot Point’s performance to the Lady Cats’ play on the mound and behind the plate.
“My number one focus this season is to make sure we can throw strikes [and] make sure when we're up in the count we're being smart on where we put the ball, and our pitchers didn’t give up a ton of hard extra-base hits today,” she said. “Then our catcher, she's incredible. … She's a leader behind the plate, and that's a key part of our defense.”
Collinsville’s head coach Zach Howard said the games helped his team shake off the rust and should serve as a good experience for his team.
“We’re really young, and this was our first game of the year since we had a long playoff run in basketball, so I expected us to be a little rough around the edges,” he said. “We have a lot of things to clean up, but the best part is now we know what we need to fix.”
Despite the losses, Howard highlighted positive things he hopes the Lady Pirates can build on.
“We competed well, especially in game one,” he said. “[We] were down 11-2, and scoring three in the last inning is a positive. In game two, I thought our pitcher threw much better than she did in game one, and that was encouraging to see because we’re going to need her going forward.”
The Lady Pirates returned to the diamond, collecting their first win of the season 13-0 over the Dodd City Lady Hornets.
The Lady Cats followed up their wins over Collinsville with a 21-8 loss to the Lindsay Lady Knights Tuesday night.
Pilot Point is scheduled to return to the field in a tournament in Denton Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The results were not available by press time.
