The Llano High School softball team will face Jim Ned in the first round of the Class 3A Division I playoffs in a best-of-three series.
Game one is set for 8 p.m. Friday, April 25, while game two is at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 26. The series is at Brownwood High School. Game three, if necessary, will be played after game two.
The Lady Jackets are taking some momentum with them after beating a stubborn Brady team 17-13 April 17.
"I knew Brady had been playing tough at their place," Llano head coach Tim Hulon said. "It was their senior night, and they wanted to play."
Llano led 4-0 after the first inning and added two more in the second. But the Lady Bulldogs answered with four in the bottom of the third to trim the deficit 6-4.
The Lady Jackets got two of those runs back in the top of the fourth inning.
Brady scored five in the fourth highlighted by a grand slam by senior shortstop Gracie Galindo to take a 9-8 lead.
But Llano senior pitcher Jayme Duroy answered with a three-run homer and throwing errors allowed two Lady Jackets to go home for a 13-9 advantage midway through the fifth inning. Nine Lady Jackets batted during the inning. All the runs came after two outs.
The Lady Bulldogs, however, refused to go quietly. They scored three in the bottom half of the fifth to trim the deficit 13-12.
In the top of the sixth inning, senior Lyndi Landers led off with a triple then went home on a RBI single by freshman Emmaryee Roberson. Sophomore Jaci Smith drove in two for a 17-12 lead.
Brady added a run in the sixth inning for the final out.
Duroy allowed nine runs, six earned, off six hits and three walks while striking out eight in four innings. Landers allowed four unearned runs off two hits and a walk while striking out four.
Duroy pitched a day earlier than normal. In the 14-3 win April 14, she threw all five innings.
"I thought Jayme was a little tired," Hulon said. "She wasn't as sharp. She's pitched four or five games in a row. She gave us a chance."
The Lady Jackets scored 17 runs, eight of them earned, off 14 hits and two walks. They struck out 14 times.
Duroy led with five RBI off two hits, while junior Madison Whttenburg also had four RBI off two hits and Smith added four RBI off and had one hit.
Hulon said his team's ability to answer, especially when the opponent has scored or taken the lead, is huge. He believes an energetic dugout where players are into the ball game and pass that enthusiasm to each other is a big part of the success.
"It's important that you're able to keep momentum in your dugout," he said. "There was only one inning where we didn't score. When we came in and scored, it changed everything."
The other offensive stat he liked was sending nine batters to the plate in one inning. That highlights a philosophy of passing the bat and committing to not making the final out to end the inning.
Hulon noted the Lady Jackets "don't have the experience to get out there and adjust, so we're learning as we go."
"That's tough, but they're responding well," he said. "We want to pass the bat. The girls have done a good job of that."
