La Grange faces uphill route

Lady Leps must beat Huffman Hargrave twice Saturday.

In its attempt to book another trip to Austin, La Grange’s softball team will have to rally in College Station.

A mistake-filled inning doomed La Grange in a 4-1 loss to Huffman Hargrave on Texas A&M’s campus Wednesday. The defeat drops Class 4A’s topranked team into a 1-0 hole in its fifth-round playoff series, and the Lady Leps (34-1) will need to beat Hargrave (27-5) twice Saturday in order to reach the University Interscholastic League’s state tournament for a third straight season.

La Grange had won 40 straight games, and two of those victories came at the expense of Hargrave. La Grange bested the Lady Falcons in a 2014 Class 3A semifinal game, and the Lady Leps also posted a 7-6 victory Feb. 26.

“Missy (Zoch) will be in the circle, and we’ll bounce back and try to hit the ball,” said La Grange coach Arthur Behrend, who won the flip with Hargrave coach Latonya Dorsey for a best-of-three series. “We’ve won 34, we can win two.”

In the bottom of the first inning, La Grange surrendered its first run since March 13 when Hargrave cleanup hitter Kylie George hit a run-scoring single off of first base. La Grange tied the game in the fifth, but the Lady Leps’ undefeated hopes were soon derailed.

Hargrave senior Demi Janak led off the sixth inning by reaching base when La Grange first baseman Riley Fisbeck bobbled a throw from Zoch, a junior pitcher who was en route to her first loss in 59 varsity decisions. Janak was erased on a fielder’s choice off of Loren Dempsey’s bat, but George moved pinch-runner Cameron Taylor to second base with a single.

Maggie McCloskey then grounded a ball that La Grange shortstop BlakeAnn Fritsch couldn’t field, and Taylor was held at third base when center fielder Hannah Gerecke quickly got the ball to home. La Grange catcher Hatti Moore attempted to catch Taylor off of the base, but her throwing error allowed two runs to score. McCloskey later scored on a single.