Lady Dawgs earn more wins at own tourney

The Burnet High School softball program completed a successful weekend on the diamond in their own tournament March 5.

The varsity (14-3) defeated Johnson City 3-2 after losing to The Woodlands College Park 2-1 on Saturday. On Friday, the Lady Dawgs beat Gunter 12-2.

The junior varsity split games against the Liberty Hill junior varsity on Friday, beating the Lady Panthers 8-4 in the morning before losing to them 13-2 in the afternoon.

“The Liberty Hill JV is very good,” head coach Hailey Wooten said. “They beat everybody else they played. For our JV to be able to get a win was very good for them.”

The varsity’s contest against College Park (11-1-1) had to go to the international tiebreaker to decide the winner. That’s where the batting team has bases loaded with two outs before a batter steps into the box. Burnet pitcher Kyleigh Mott was credited with the loss. She had the RBI to send the game into the tiebreaker and had four strikeouts. College Park pitcher Arriana Wright had 14 strikeouts.

“To hold a team like that to zero runs for five innings says a lot,” Wooten said. “Kyleigh pitched well, she saw the ball well. She only gave up two runs.”

Against Johnson City, senior Savannah Gomez led with 2 RBIs, while sophomore pitcher MaeSyn Gay earned the win with five strikeouts.

The Lady Dawgs displayed what coaches emphasize.

“We like to preach that energy is hard to beat,” Wooten said. “The kids bought into that. You listen to our dugout, they’re constantly yelling and cheering. For a lot of our kids, softball is their No. 1 sport. It shows a lot of passion, having a bunch of athletes who play this sport at a high level. I have quite a few that that’s the case. They’re giving it their all. You can tell they love it.”

The Lady Dawgs will begin their final week of non-district play against the Lady Badgers Tuesday, March 8. The JV plays at 5 p.m., while the varsity follows at 6:30 p.m. at Lampasas High School, 2716 U.S. 281 South.

Wooten said she believes the tournament did what it was supposed to — gave her players a chance to face quality opponents and allowed them to play multiple innings to get better.

“I think it was good,” she said. “I think we saw some good competition. I think they can see what they can do and are looking forward to the start of District (19-4A) play.”