Lady Dawgs answer shutout with one of their own

BURNET — After a week of intense drama on the diamond, the Burnet High School varsity softball team found itself in second place at the midpoint of District 8-3A competition.

The Lady Dawgs blanked the Leander Rouse Raiders, 8-0, April 9, to improve their season mark to 16-7 and 4-1 in district.

“We started slow,” head coach Amanda Carpenter said.

In the third inning, however, the wheels began to roll.  

Sophomore Courtnie Crouch was awarded base on balls, stole second and then raced home on a base hit to right-center filed by junior Savannah Erskine.

“Savannah moved around the bases and scored on a passed ball to give us a 2-0 lead in the third,” the coach said. “This seemed to wake up our sleeping bats, and we rolled off six more runs.”

The ensuing burst was led by senior Darcy Jacoby, who was coming off a two-game absence from a broken nose and went 3-4 at the plate and posted 1 RBI.  

Senior Kerstyn Towslee had a single, 2 RBIs and two steals, while sophomore Samantha Lawrence recorded an RBI and scored one run.

Sophomore Kati Maldonado and junior Ashten Huddleston both pounded out a single and scored a run.  

Sophomore Allison Eaton scored a run for the Lady Dawgs, while Erskine finished with a single, one RBI, three runs scored and stole two bases.

Sophomore pitcher Kristen Spinn earned the win in the circle. She pitched seven innings, struck out seven, walked two and allowed three hits and no earned runs. 

The much anticipated shootout with Liberty Hill April 6 for first place turned into a fierce loss for the Lady Dawgs, 3-0.  

“The game was well played and we had several chances to win, but could not get the big hit that we needed,” Carpenter said.

Crouch and Maldonado recorded a single apiece and Crouch added a steal to her day’s work, but the Lady Dawgs couldn’t sustain their hitting.   

Defensively, Burnet was stingy. The Lady Dawgs surrendered a run in the second inning when sophomore Amanda Green suffered a shoulder injury and gave up only one run in the fourth and another in the fifth.

Spinn pitched six innings, allowing two earned runs, and was charged with the loss. She struck out four, walked three and gave up three hits.

The tilt with Liberty Hill closed out the first round of league play, leaving the Lady Dawgs with a 3-1 mark.  

The Lady Dawgs travel to Llano today for a 7 p.m. game.