Bats go silent for Harris County in state tourney losses
Harris County’s softball season came to a close Saturday afternoon as the Lady Tigers bats were silenced in consecutive games in the GHSA Class 5A state tournament at South Commons.
The final loss was to Walnut Grove by a 4-0 count in the losers bracket final as Texas A&M signee Kayla Poynter pitched a complete game six-hit shutout out that gave the Lady Tigers third place in the tournament.
“Our players played their best ball all year in this tournament,” said Harris County coach Brook Zuerner, who as a player was a member of the last Lady Tiger unit to win a state title in 2000.
“We beat the teams we were supposed to beat and lost to the top two teams in the division. We have nothing to be ashamed of,” she added. “We just could not string hits together when we needed them.”
Karen Samson singled home Kaety Borst in the third for Walnut Grove’s first run of the game and it was all it needed. They added a second run in the fourth on a pinch hit by Lindsey Patten and two more in the sixth for insurance as Poynter hit an opposite field home run.
Harris County had six hits in the game with three players getting two hits apiece — Hannah Carroll, Ashliegh Duty and Lilly Hooper — and had runners in scoring position four of the seven innings.
“I am proud of the effort our players gave and how hard our five seniors worked to get here,” Zuerner said.
Harris County played Walnut Grove after losing 5-0 to Buford in the winners bracket final Saturday morning.
The Lady Wolves, who went on to win their 10th straight state title, got one run in the first for a 1-0 lead that stayed that way until the sixth when Kelsey Bennett hit a two-run home run to make it 3-0.
“That kind of took the momentum out. Up until that homer, we were down 1-0 and right in the game, but then got a little sloppy after that and that was all.” said Zuerner of the first contest.
Saturday at South Commons
Game 1
Buford | 100 | 002 | 2 | — | 5 | 8 | 0 |
Harris | 000 | 000 | 0 | — | 0 | 1 | 4 |
WP-Logan Caldwell. LP- Brooke Wakenigg. Leading Hitters-Buford-Katie Perkins 2x3, 1R, Arielle Ola, 2x4 1R, Hannah Jo Hyatt 2x4 RBI, 1R, Kelsey Bennett 1x3 HR RBI; Harris-Zoe Willis 1x3. Records- Buford 32-2, Harris County 21-10.
Game 2
W. Grove | 001 | 102 | 0 | — | 4 | 12 | 1 |
Harris | 000 | 000 | 0 | — | 0 | 6 | 0 |
WP-Kayla Boynton. LP-Wakenigg (Sydney Shackleford (5). Leading Hitters-Poynter, 2x3,2B, Hr, 2RBI 2 R, Brooke Parker 2x3 RBI, Maddi Perry, Karen Samson 2x4, Lindsey Patten 1x1,RBI. Harris County- Hannah Carroll 2x3, Ashleigh Duty 2x4, Lilly Hooper 2x4. Records-Walnut Grove 32-7. Harris County-21-11 season ended.
This story was originally published October 29, 2016 at 8:02 PM with the headline "Bats go silent for Harris County in state tourney losses."