With two outs in the seventh, it looked as if Cinco Ranch’s Meghan Brown’s second and third homer in 24 hours would prove the difference in the Cougars’ regional final series with Katy.  But someone forgot to tell the Tigers’ Katie Brokmeyer, who decided her last at bat in the series’ deciding game would not be her last in a Katy uniform.

In what will probably be the most memorable at bat in her high school career, the senior designated player followed Victoria Culbertson’s clutch two-out single with a blast over the leftfield fence to tie the game at 4-4 and set the stage for teammate Maate Haack’s game winner in the eighth.

“With two outs, it’s easy to say it’s over,” Coach Kalum Haack said of his Katy team’s come-from-behind 5-4 victory.  The third time in the finals proved the charm for the Tigers, who hadn’t appeared in the regional finals since 2001.  While Haack said the 2007 version of the Tigers may not have had all the talent the 2001 team did, he added, “There’s just something about ‘em.  They don’t give up.  You know someone will come through in the clutch.”  Now they’ve made history, becoming the first Katy softball team to reach the state tournament.

For six innings, it looked as if it wouldn’t happen.  Cinco Ranch had other plans, building up a solid 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the fourth on the strength of two lead-off home runs in consecutive at bats by Cougar catcher Brown, who had the game winning homer in Thursday night’s 5-4 thriller.  Cougar starter Shannon Smith had scattered five Katy hits, allowed two runs, and retired five straight batters since the fifth and was poised for the win before facing Culbertson and Brokmeyer in the seventh.

But after Brown’s second home run in the top of the fourth, the Cinco Ranch offense stalled.  Katy pitcher Denise Arnold allowed the Cougars just two hits, an infield single to Alex Reynolds in the fourth and a shot to center by Hollie Pinchback in the fifth.  Save for three walks—one an intentional pass to Brown on her third trip to the plate--and a hit batsman, Arnold shut Cinco Ranch down for the final four frames to claim the win.  And that was after dislocating the little finger on her left hand in Thursday’s game.  Afterward,  Haack praised the sophomore right-hander for her toughness and determination through the playoffs.

Before their late-inning heroics, Brokmeyer and Haack had been fairly quiet at the plate against Cinco Ranch.  After being called out on strikes in the fifth, Brokmeyer said she was “just trying to get on” when she drove Smith’s two-strike pitch over the fence.  Haack said afterward that she couldn’t watch as Brokmeyer batted; she just waited to hear the cheers to take a peek. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Katy catcher Holly Holl blasted a double to deep left center.  Tori Ortega came in to run for Holl then came around to score as Haack’s single fell into shallow right.

“I’m just glad it came when it did because I didn’t have a great hitting series,” Matte Haack said afterward.  Haack, who has been a defensive leader for the Tigers throughout the playoffs, added that “it feels great to be the first (softball team from Katy) to go to state.”  She said she’s especially excited for her dad to be the first Katy coach to get the Tigers to Austin.  Tears were shed on both sides of the diamond after the game, and though it may be a cliché to say, it was hard to watch one of these teams lose.  Appropriately, the outcome was decided by a single run. 

Afterward, Coach Judy Whillock said of her Cinco Ranch team, which finished the season with a 33-8 record and a District 18-5A title:  “I’m just proud of them.  They made history for Cinco Ranch softball.  They never quit.”  Before this year’s finish in the regional finals, the Cougars had never made it past the area round in playoffs, and at the beginning of Friday’s game, they looked ready to go farther.

Cinco Ranch put up single runs in each of the game’s first four innings.  Emily Meurer got things started in the first for the Cougars with a double to the fence.  But a pick off attempt at first that put out Pinchback, who was on with a walk, allowed Meurer to score. 

Katy answered in its half of the inning when Stacy Dominique, on base on a double, scored on Holl’s sacrifice fly out to center.

Brown led off the second inning for Cinco Ranch with her first home run and a 2-1 Cougar lead, then Arnold settled down and got the next three Cougars in order.  In the third, Cinco Ranch scored on an RBI double by Pinchback, who drove in Reynolds who had reached on a walk.  In the fourth, Cinco Ranch scored again when Brown once more cleared the fence in left.  Reynolds then picked up a single with two outs, but Jessica Stoelke’s shot back to Dominique ended the Cougar half of that inning.

Katy put up another run in the bottom half of the fourth when Haack singled and raced home on Taran Tyler’s double to left.  Cinco Ranch’s Smith, who took the loss, allowed just one more hit, an infield hit to Culbertson, till the seventh when Culbertson struck again with her clutch single.  Brokmeyer’s homer followed to send the game into the eighth.

Katy, which notched a record 34 victories with the Region III 5A championship win over the Cougars, now sets its sights on the state tournament, slated to begin Friday, June 1, against an as yet to be determined opponent.
 

Subscribe to this comment's feed