Coaches say that every win is a total team effort. But Westlake head coach Jessica Provost can truly say that about her No. 9 Lady Rams' 7-1 win over the No. 8 Kaplan Lady Pirates on Friday in the Class 3A playoffs.
Every Lady Ram batter contributed in the game and showed skill in the field to send Westlake (19-9-2) to their second consecutive Fast Pitch 56 state tournament.
"We just did what we had to do," Provost said. "I told the girls that no matter what, they couldn't start doubting themselves. They had to keep going and keep playing as one."
It took a team effort for Westlake to score their first two runs in the first couple of innings of play. Kasha Carpenter led off the game with a single to shallow left and was moved all the way to third on two sacrifice bunts. With two outs, Chelsea Evans drove in Carpenter with a single up the middle to give the Lady Rams the early 1-0 lead.
Jordan Buller led off the second inning with a hit down the left field line and moved into scoring position on a fielder's choice off the bat of Maggie Bradshaw with the help of a Kaplan (19-13) error. One batter later, Jase Johnson flew out to deep centerfield but it allowed Buller to score for the two run lead.
While the offense was building a lead, Bradshaw and her defense kept the Lady Pirates bats at bay. Bradshaw walked two in the first inning, but got two Kaplan batters to fly out and Evans threw out Terisita Vallery on a steal attempt to get Westlake out of the inning.
Bradshaw sat down the next six batters she faced, but again ran into some trouble in the fourth inning.
The Lady Rams' junior pitcher issued a walk with one out, and then gave up two hits to load the bases for Kaplan. Ashton Hargrove knocked a ball hard down the third base line that was hard for the Westlake defender to handle to allow the lone Lady Pirate run to score. Ranase Fredrick followed with a fly-out to center, and Johnson gunned down Blair Frith at the plate to get the Lady Rams out of the jam.
"She's doing better relying on her defense," Provost said on Bradshaw. "Today, it was not her best. She'll have those games where she's not doing her best and the defense steps up."
The defense stepped up again when Kaplan loaded the bases in the sixth inning with two outs. Bradshaw gave up a walk and two hits, but got an excellent defensive play when Hali Corley snagged a line drive off the bat of Fredrick that could have cleared the bases for the Lady Pirates.
"We step it up every game," said Corley on the defense. "Today we really knew we had to step it up because we knew that they were going to try (to do)."
Bradshaw finished the game allowing one run on four hits with seven strikeouts and four walks.
Westlake padded their lead in their half of the fifth inning scoring four runs, all with two outs, on five hits. The Lady Rams added another run in the sixth when Corley singled to start things off and scored on a Kaplan wild pitch.
"They came through with base hits with two outs and we didn't," Kaplan head coach Shay Herpin said. "I think we made some errors that they forced us to make by hitting balls well.
"They are a good team and I knew that coming in."
Bradshaw led the offense for the Lady Rams with a 3-for-4 day with an RBI with Buller (2-for-4) and Corley (2-for-3) adding multiple hits for Westlake.
Brittany LeBeouf allowed four earned runs on 11 hits with just two strikeouts and two walks. LeBeouf reached base every time she batted to finish the game 1-for-1 with two walks.
Now the Lady Rams look forward to the quarterfinals, which will take place on Friday in Sulphur.
"I'm just so excited especially with this team," Corley said on making the state tournament. "We are going to go out and show everyone that doesn't believe in us that they should. I know we can go all the way cause I believe in these girls."
Westlake will take on No. 1 Buckeye who defeated No. 17 Jena 4-0.
Box score
1 2 3 4 5 6 7– R H E
WHS 1 1 0 0 4 1 0– 7 11 2
KHS 0 0 0 1 0 0 0– 1 4 4
WP: M. Bradshaw (7IP, 1ER, 4H, 7K, 4BB)
LP: B. LeBeouf (7IP, 4ER, 11H, 2K, 2BB)
BATTING: WESTLAKE–K. Carpenter (1-4, R); K. Goodeaux (0-2, SAC); Ha. Corley (2-3, SAC, 2R); C. Evans (1-4, RBI); A. Jagneaux (1-3, R, RBI); J. Buller (2-4, 2R); M Bradshaw (3-4, RBI); He. Corley (1-4, RBI); J. Johnson (0-2, 2SAC, RBI). KAPLAN–B. LeBeouf (1-1, 2BB); B. Frith (1-2, BB). A. Hargrove (1-3, RBI).
RECORDS: No. 8 Kaplan (19-13), No. 9 Westlake (19-9-2)
