The Coastal Bend College Cougar softball team scrapped and clawed their way into the Region XIV Championships. Their opponent in the first-round - the Tyler Junior College A paches were the top seed from the East Division, winning 51 games, including 21-5 in regional play - had been dominate the entire season and entered the tournament as the 6th ranked team in the nation. In the Region XIV Championship tournament's third game, the Apaches showed exactly why they had been so dominate all season long.
The Apache pitching was nothing short of brilliant. Their defense was stellar including a scoring threat ending, strike from right field to the plate to nail Haley Sanchez in the top of the 6th inning. Their hitting was timely and consistent; and all of those things led to a 6-0 shutout of the Cougars. Though the score was lopsided, the Cougars had their chances.
The Cougars had runners in scoring position on multiple occasions. In the second inning, Aileen Rodriguez reach first after being hit by a pitch, Jamie Morales hit a seeing eye single deep to short; but that is as far as the Cougars would get as Kathrina Rangel and Kirstie Soto both just missed home runs that ended as warning track foul balls.
The Apaches did most of their scoring damage in the bottom of the third inning when they strung together three singles and got two walks to push three runs across home plate.
The Cougars would show their own defensive jobs in Port Arthur. In the first, inning Sabrina Colon fired a bullet from the left field fence to Emily Michki to get a putout at 3rd to end the Apache scoring threat. Michki would show more glove work in the sixth inning when she snagged a bunt just before it hit the dirt then fired to first to double up the runner.
In the end, the Apaches were able to string enough hits together to score six times, while the Cougars would threaten, but never score. The loss drops CBC to 23-25 on the season, and sends them to the contender's bracket; where they will play Trinity Valley at 10:00 am on Saturday morning.