Deer Park tops state No. 1 Katy, advances to state softball tournament.
4th trip in 6 years to Austin result of sweep of Tigers in regional final
Erin Edmoundson — the only player left from Deer Park’s 2014 championship — remembers the last trip to Austin like it was yesterday.
Now her teammates can make their own enduring memories.
Edmoundson and Maddie Nelson combined for six scoreless innings, and Edmoundson added a three-run homer, helping the Deer beat Katy 6-5 on Friday night at the University of Houston softball field to sweep the Class 6A Region III final.
“I cried when we won (region in 2014), and now I fell on the ground,” Edmoundson said. “It’s such an amazing experience in Austin, and I knew that we had to get back, and we had to do it this year.”
4 RBIs for Edmoundson
Edmoundson, fellow senior Alyssa Hernandez and junior McKayla Chamberlain celebrated with their customary postwin leap, a tradition handed down since the 2012 title run, but this one was sweeter.
They didn’t leap after Game 1, vowing to wait until they won the series.
“It’s so fun to be ourselves and have a ball,” said Edmoundson, who supplied four RBIs.
The Deer Park tradition now includes four trips to state in the last six years, with two titles — and counting.
“That’s sweet,” Deer coach Carrie Austgen said. “They’re glued together with so much team bonding and great leadership, and (assistant coach Errica Cantu) has done such a great job.
“Oh my goodness, I can’t ask for any more out of these kids and this coaching staff.”
Deer Park (38-6) won Game 1 4-3 on Sara Vanderford’s run-scoring double in the 10th inning Thursday at UH.
The Deer built a 5-0 lead before the Tigers (34-5) attacked in Game 2.
Chamberlain doubled and scored on an error in the first, pitcher Alyssa LeBlanc beaned Edmoundson with the bases loaded in the third, and Edmoundson crushed a three-run homer in the fifth.
Then Katy caught up with her at the plate.
The Tigers scored all five of their runs on six hits in the bottom of the fifth, including three consecutive run-producing doubles, leading to Edmoundson’s exit from the circle and Nelson’s entrance.
Kat Lopez’s RBI single tied it 5-5 before Nelson ended the inning.
The Deer regained the lead when Chloe Cobb, who relieved LeBlanc in the fifth, dropped Chamberlain’s pop fly over the circle, allowing Jasie Roberts, who had reached on a single, to score in the sixth.
4 errors by Tigers
That error was one of four by the Tigers, who committed six in the series. They paid for each one.
“There have been times when we’ve made an error or two, but we haven’t made as many as we did in this ballgame, especially with a game of this magnitude, and every error led to one or more runs,” Katy coach Kalum Haack said. “You cut the errors in half … and they don’t score six runs.
“You can’t play like that in a big ballgame like this, and you dang sure can’t give a really good team like Deer Park those kinds of opportunities.”
The Tigers outhit Deer Park 11-5 and didn’t strike out all night, but they stranded nine.
That, combined with the errors, allowed the Deer to break out their brooms in the fifth round of the playoffs.
“It’s huge because Kingwood, that was three, Cy Ranch, that was three, so I was like, ‘OK, girls, let’s do this in two,’ ” Austgen said. “And the kids played big. They didn’t get rattled.”