The wait is over.

The Lady Badgers finally know who their first playoff opponent will be.

Ten days after completing an undefeated district schedule, Lampasas learned it will face Alamo Heights in a best-of-three area-round series beginning with Game 1 Thursday at 7 p.m. at Fredericksburg. Game 2 will occur Friday at 6 p m. with Game 3 to follow immediately if necessary.

After automatically advancing to the area round after their bi-district opponent Austin Eastside Memorial was forced to forfeit its season, the Lady Badgers have waited patiently to find out who they would open their playoff run against.

Friday night in San Antonio, they got the answer as Alamo Heights defeated San Antonio Brackenridge 4-2 in a one-game series.

“I saw a very young team, and they didn’t seem very aggressive,” Lampasas head coach Chris Munoz said of Alamo Heights after traveling to its bi-district game. “I think we should be able to handle them.

“It’s going to be more competition than we had in district. I’m not saying it is going to be a blowout, but I think we are going to be able to handle them.”

While the team waited over a week just to learn who their opponent would be, the Lady Badgers will be returning from an unexpected two-week vacation from meaningful competition when they hit the diamond Thursday evening.

Lampasas did win its lone warmup game against Magnolia during the down time as it waited.

“It is kind of a bad thing that we missed a game,” Munoz said. “We had some good competition against Magnolia, but we’ve got to come back and practice hard this week to get ready for Thursday and Friday.”

In addition to receiving the firstround bye, the Lady Badgers, as well as the rest of the playoff field, were sidelined most of last week due to TAKS testing.

All the inactivity leaves Lampasas little time to waste.

Should the Lady Badgers advance past Alamo Heights, the road to a Class 4A championship will not get any easier.

Potentially, Lampasas could face the second-, third-, and fourthranked teams in the state over the next three rounds as New Braunfels Canyon, Corpus Christi Tuloso- Midway and Dripping Springs each advanced past their first-round opponents.

Munoz, however, is not concerned with what awaits his team down the road.

“Right now, we are taking it one game at a time,” the coach said. “Of course they are going to face good teams [along the way] and when they come, we are going to prepare ourselves to get ready for them.”

With a series victory over Alamo Heights, the Lady Badgers can begin their regional quarterfinal series against either No. 2 New Braunfels Canyon or District 25- 4A rival Hendrickson Sunday with the deadline for completion set for May 15.

The team knows it cannot look too far ahead after losing its arearound series to San Antonio Burbank last year.

According to Munoz, the Lady Badgers should not repeat the performance. “The key is everyone being on the same page and everyone sticking together,” the coach said. “If we do that, we should be all right.”

Lampasas vs. Alamo Heights

Thursday
Game 1
7 p.m.
at Fredericksburg
Friday
Game 2
6 p.m.
at Fredericksburg
Game 3
30 mins. after Game 2
at Fredericksburg