SERIES SWEEP
Lady Badgers knock off Lady Cavs for second time
By JEREMY HEATH Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Lady Badger shortstop Stacey Dickens moves freshman Taylor Holloman to second base with a second-inning sacrifice bunt on Friday. Holloman would later score on a single by freshman Callyn Smith, giving LHS a 1-0 lead in a 3- 1 win against Lake Travis.

Ever since the Lampasas High School softball team was officially eliminated from playoff contention with a 2-1 home loss against Marble Falls on April 4, it has played like a playoff team.

The Lady Badgers (5-7 in District 25-4A) played their most fundamentally sound game of the season Friday, knocking off Austin Lake Travis, 3-1, and completing a season sweep of the Lady Cavaliers. It was the Lady Badgers' second consecutive win. They beat Burnet, 10-0, last Tuesday, to complete a season sweep of the Lady Bulldogs.

"It was our most complete game of the season," LHS head coach Chris Gaffney said. "In terms of hitting, defense and pitching, it was certainly our most complete game."

Shortstop Stacey Dickens epitomized the efficiency of the LHS effort. She started a 6-4 double play in the first inning that killed a Lake Travis scoring threat, she executed a sacrifice bunt that led to Taylor Holloman scoring the game's first run, and she reached base three times, stealing two bases.

Lady Badger right fielder Shelby Wilson held Lake Travis' Kasey Miller to a single on this first-inning play. Miller was later thrown out at second base on the back end of a 6-4 double play when Stacey Dickens caught a line drive and flipped to Taryn Brown.

"I thought after we gave up our chance to go to the playoffs, we might not do as well," Dickens said of the past two games. "We're proving me wrong."

LHS senior pitcher Kirby Crow threw a complete game, scattering eight hits and working her way out of two major jams. In the top of the fourth, with the Lady Badgers leading 2-0, Lake Travis' Lyssa Yates led off with a triple. Crow induced two popups and struck out Kaila Bertsch to quell the threat. In the sixth, Crow allowed another leadoff triple but held the Lady Cavs to one run behind a stellar defensive effort.

The Lady Badgers cashed in two runs in the bottom half of the second inning. After Dickens moved Holloman to second, Shelby Wilson moved her to third with a ground ball to the right side, and freshman Callyn Smith plated her with a first-pitch single back through the box. Kallen Vann drove in Smith with a double to left field.

LHS added a run in the sixth when Taryn Brown tripled, and Holloman drove her in with a single.