San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Titans’ first postseason run ends with sweep
Southwest Legacy’s inaugural playoff run ended in the second round Saturday, as New Braunfels Canyon beat the Titans 8-2 at St. Mary’s University to complete a two-game sweep.
The Cougarettes won the first game 5-1 on Friday night.
“We can’t take it away from the girls,” Legacy coach Teri Camarillo said after the game. “They were the first girls team to make it this far.”
The Titans, in their third year as a program, earned a share of their district championship after the 28-5A race ended in a four-way tie. Legacy took out Edison in the first round to set up a second-round matchup with the 26-5A champion Cougarettes.
On Saturday, the Titans went toe-to-toe with Canyon for much of the afternoon. Legacy had its chances, getting runners on base in all but two innings, but it failed to cash in on most of those opportunities
The Titans did get on the board first, when Natalie Zepeda was hit by a pitch, then scored on a double by Yliana Kuykendall in the top of the second inning. But the Titans couldn’t add any more, stranding two runners for a second consecutive inning.
Canyon responded in the bottom of the second when Hanna Combs reached on a fielders choice and scored on an RBI triple by Haley Carmona, who later got caught in a rundown and was tagged out at home plate.
“We had an up-and-down game today,” Canyon coach Kevin Randle said. “It’s not atypical of the way we’ve played this year. I was really happy with the way our girls responded over the course of the day.”
The Cougarettes took the lead with two runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Harley Vestal and Hannah Crow reached on one-out singles, then moved up on a double steal. Both scored when Legacy left fielder Alexis Lozano couldn’t make a play on a ball hit by Catherine Kuhn.
Legacy’s Blanca Sanchez was able to escape the inning without further damage.
Legacy cut the lead to 3-2 with a pair of doubles in the top of the fifth inning. Yazmin Fernandez led off with a double, and after moving to third on a wild pitch, scored on a two-out double by Arianna Elizondo-Galvan.
Canyon blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth inning with five runs, sending 10 batters to the plate.
“Some of our better hitters had kind of struggled a little bit over the course of the series,” Randle said of the burst of offense in the sixth inning. “They were kind of due for some hits. They finally got their opportunities and made the most of them.”
Legacy finished the season 1313-1
“To be able to be on this stage was a blessing,” Camarillo said. “The run stopped here, but we will go on and learn lessons from this.”
New Braunfels Canyon improved to 24-3 and will face Georgetown in the third round.