Updated Wednesday, May 19, 2010 9:19 PM

Celina trying for trip to state tournament

BY BILL SPINKS

HERALD DEMOCRAT

CELINA -- The UIL state softball tournament is still a couple of weeks away. But the favorite to win it all in Class 3A will be decided this weekend between No. 1-ranked Celina and No. 2 Lucas Lovejoy.

Against 3A competition, the Lady Cats are perfect on the year at 19-0; and they are riding an 18-game winning streak. They would like to keep both of those marks unsullied tonight, when they take on the Lady Leopards in Game 1 of a best-of-three Region II semifinal series beginning at 7 p.m. at McKinney Boyd High School.

"It's going to be a battle," said Celina coach Billy Coleman. "We've prepared all season long for these types of games, so it's going to be up to the girls to get out there and perform, and execute plays."

Sophomore pitcher Katelyn Drummond is getting a taste of what playoff pressure is like between the lines, but believes her team is equal to the task.

"Being No. 1, you're going to have to play the best teams," Drummond said. "It's always scary because after beating the best teams, everyone expects you to be better and better every time. We've been getting better every game."

With the schools being relatively close together, there's a certain amount of familiarity between the players from both Celina and Lovejoy through summer select softball.

"I know a couple who play select," said senior catcher Jasmine San Miguel. "I played with another when I was little. They say they've gotten all better and their pitcher's pretty good. A lot of those girls play select, so they know the game."

Game 2 is set for Friday night at McKinney Boyd, with the rubber game scheduled for high noon on Saturday if needed.

Coming off a state runner-up season, Coleman decided to beef up his team's softball schedule even more to help his girls take the final step to a state championship.

The Lady Cats (29-6-1) weathered a brutal early-season tournament schedule pretty well, with nine wins, six losses -- four by two runs or less -- and a tie against Class 4A and 5A competition.

Four of those teams which Celina has played -- Pasadena Memorial, Frisco Wakeland, Waco Midway and Magnolia -- remain alive in the big-school brackets.

"Win or lose, those are teams we wanted to play to get us tuned-up -- to be in tight situations, 0-0 going into the last inning, how you're going to respond to the pressure playing defense," Coleman said. "That's what all that was for."

The Lady Cats are still an extremely young team with only one senior, San Miguel. But the majority of the team has state-level experience from a year ago, when Celina reached the finals but lost to Needville.

"Half of them played in the state tournament and in region final games, so all that experience is factored in," Coleman said. "All of them were part of the team last year whether they played or not, and they got to experience that."

Drummond is 25-6 on the year in the pitcher's circle and has been the workhorse of the team, Coleman said.

"She has three or four good pitches and can throw them anytime in the count," he said. "It's not just one pitch you're going to sit on, because she can throw them all. She keeps people off-balance and lets her defense work behind her."

Drummond's best pitch is her change-up. She isn't afraid to throw it back-to-back against somebody.

"It's always been one of my best pitches," she said. "It's good because I can throw it for a strike, and it gets them off-balance."

Drummond has pitched 28 consecutive scoreless innings in the playoffs and has been supported by sparkling defense, shutting out Argyle twice last week and Kennedale twice the week before.

"We've been playing good defense all year," Coleman said. "For us to win this series, and even hopefully to get back to state, we'll have to continue to play good defense, and to execute when we're on offense.

"You prepare them, then after that it's out of my hands. It's up to the kids to perform, and to want it and get after it. That's what I think they're going to do. They're hungry to get back."

Celina defeats Lovejoy in Game 1

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Published: Thursday, May 20, 2010 11:02 PM CDT

MCKINNEY – Back and forth they went exchanging glancing blows. Neither side was able to land anything substantial, and it appeared as though extra innings would be necessary to decide the opening game between the top two 3A softball powers in the state.

Celina finally broke through in the fifth inning, using a pair of runs to pull ahead of Lovejoy just enough to eke out a 4-3 victory in Game 1 of a best-of-three regional semifinal series at McKinney Boyd High School.

With the game knotted at two apiece heading into the fifth, Celina junior centerfielder Olivia Braddock doubled and was bunted to third. A one-out triple down the left field line by sophomore Claudia Cantu gave the Lady Cats the lead for good before shortstop Shelby Carter added insurance with a sacrifice fly to right.

Now trailing 4-2, Lovejoy (30-4) found itself in another jam in the very next inning, but senior ace Jordan Stafford willed her team out of it by inducing a popup from Braddock with two runners in scoring position.

The Lady Leopards weren’t able to take advantage of their good fortune, though. Senior Beth Johnson took a 2-1 offering from Katelyn Drummond over the fence in center to slice the deficit to 4-3 with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Melissa Schreck and Brooke Puckett bookended a Brittany Lewis single with groundouts to end the game.

Lovejoy, which had won eight in a row, opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single from Lewis. Celina, winners of 19 straight, answered with a run in the third before the Lady Leopards regained the advantage with a run in the bottom of the frame. The Lady Cats knotted it up once again in the fourth before taking the lead for good in the following stanza.

Game 2 is set for 7 p.m. Friday at McKinney Boyd. A Lovejoy win would force Game 3, which would be played at noon Saturday. A Celina win puts the team back into the regional finals for the second year in a row.

Updated Thursday, May 20, 2010 11:13 PM

Celina holds off Lovejoy to win opener

BY KEVIN DUKE

SPECIAL TO THE HERALD DEMOCRAT

McKINNEY -- The top-ranked Celina Lady Bobcats got timely hitting, pitching and some defense on top of that on Thursday night in the opening game of a Class 3A Region II Regional semifinal series against the No. 2 Lovejoy Lady Leopards at McKinney Boyd.

And they needed every bit of it.

Celina (30-6) had to come back twice, then hang on to squeak out a one-run win, 4-3, over Lovejoy (29-4).

"It was about everything I expected it to be," Celina head coach Billy Coleman said. "We had a couple of blunders but in the end defense has been saving us all year and defense saved us at the end of the ballgame. The girls were just making the plays."

The main contribution on the defensive side came from freshman third baseman Miranda West, who swallowed up shot after shot at the hot corner, and then made bullet throws across the diamond without fail to get crucial outs throughout the game, including one to close out the game.

"She's been playing like that all year," Coleman said. "Even though she's a freshman and hasn't been here, that's what I expect of her. She's been holding her own playing like a junior or senior over there and it's great to see."

Celina had twice fallen behind by a run before finally taking the lead in their half of the fifth, scoring twice after a leadoff double by Olivia Braddock and then a triple down the left-field line by Claudia Cantu that put the Lady Cats up 3-2.

Shelby Carter brought Cantu home with a sacrifice fly to right field and Celina had the 4-2 lead.

"They were clutch hits that you have to have," Coleman said. "You've got to have somebody step up and get those key hits when you've got the runners in scoring position and tonight we did that. It's just execution."

Sophomore pitcher Katelyn Drummond scattered six hits and gave up the three runs in the process, but getting out of jams twice in the late stages helped preserve the victory.

The Lady Leopards threatened in both the sixth and seventh innings, but in both cases, Drummond induced inning-ending ground balls to limit Lovejoy to just one run and seal the win.

"She didn't pitch her best game by any means. That's what excites me, because I know she can pitch a lot better than that," Coleman said, "As far as eliminating her walks and hitting her spots a lot better. Whenever your pitcher doesn't pitch her best game and you still win ... what else can you ask for?"

Cantu and Paige Mongillo led the way for the Lady Cats offense with two hits and an RBI each on the night.

Now Celina has to do it one more time to advance, tonight back at McKinney Boyd.

"By no means are we patting ourselves on the back thinking we got it won," Coleman said. "I've been in their situation before and know that it can be done. We're going to come out and pick up the intensity even more and keep putting the pressure on them and see what happens."

Softball: Celina, top-ranked in Class 3A, holds off Lovejoy, 4-3

12:48 AM CDT on Friday, May 21, 2010

From Staff Reports

McKINNEY – Claudia Cantu had two hits and two RBIs as Celina beat Lovejoy, 4-3, in Game 1 of a best-of-3 Class 3A Region II semifinal series Thursday.

Celina (30-6-1) is No. 1 in the 3A state rankings, and Lovejoy (29-4-1) is No. 2. Lovejoy became the first team to score this postseason against Celina, the 2009 3A state runner-up.

Miranda West scored the decisive run for Celina on Shelby Carter's sacrifice fly to right to cap a two-run fifth. That came after Cantu tripled in Olivia Braddock. Beth Johnson hit a one-out home run in the bottom of the seventh to get Lovejoy within 4-3.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Celina sweeps Lovejoy

BY Kevin Hageland khageland@acnpapers.com

Published: Friday, May 21, 2010 10:57 PM CDT

MCKINNEY — McKinney Boyd High School is a long way from McCombs Field in Austin, but the best-of-3 series between Lovejoy and Celina certainly had the feel of the UIL State Softball Championships.

The top two Class 3A teams squared off, fans in the stands were split down the middle — with orange on one side and red and black on the other — and Lady Cats sophomore pitcher Katelyn Drummond fell to the ground in excitement after recording the final out of a 5-1 victory that gave Celina the series sweep.

“It was just a relief,” Drummond said, “such a relief … just a big sigh … like oh my gosh, I can’t believe we’ve made it this far.”

After defeating Lovejoy, which was ranked No. 1 in the state for much of the season, 4-3, in Thursday’s opener, Celina secured the sweep Friday night.

“It feels great,” said Billy Coleman, Celina head coach. “That’s a heck of a team we just beat right there.”

Celina pounded out eight hits in the series clincher, but Lovejoy had a hand in its undoing too as the Lady Leopards committed errors in three of the innings in which the Lady Cats scored. The only inning that instance was avoided came in the third, when Celina scored on a wild pitch.

“I think we had some atypical mistakes tonight,” said Amanda Douglas, Lovejoy head coach, “but it’s only because the girls were trying so hard.”

The effort was apparent on both sides, but Lovejoy had difficulties breaking through against Drummond.

The Lady Leopards wouldn’t get their first hit until the fourth inning, a single from junior Melissa Schreck, and didn’t get on the board until the sixth, once again thanks in part to Schreck, who had two of the team’s three hits.

Schreck wasn’t as fortunate in the circle as she allowed the lead-off runner to reach base in each of the three innings she pitched. That translated to a run in both the first and third frames with the catalysts for each being the tandem of Claudia Cantu and Shelby Carter. The Celina sophomore duo had six of the team’s eight hits. That gave the Lady Cats an early 2-0 lead.

Celina tagged on another run in the fourth, after a single by Cantu and two Lovejoy errors.

“We’ve been down like this in games before, so for most of the game we weren’t too nervous,” said Jordan Stafford, Lovejoy senior. “It wasn’t until there were two outs in the seventh that we really started to get anxious.”

The Lady Leopards tried to get back in the game in the sixth as singles by Stafford and Schreck paired with a two-base Lady Cats error put Lovejoy on the board. A longer Lovejoy rally was stifled by junior Kassidy Holmes, who made a quick play on a shot down the first base line that had extra bases written all over it.

“I’m not a strikeout pitcher,” Drummond said, “so it’s nice to know I have a great defense behind me backing me up.”

With Lovejoy on the board, Celina answered back emphatically in the bottom of the frame, going up 5-1 after picking up a run on both a double by sophomore Lindsie Knowles and a single by Carter.

The Lady Cats flashed the leather again in the seventh as freshman Miranda West made the second out of the inning by catching an infield popup while crashing into the dugout fence.

“I have preached to the girls that if they want to get to Austin, then they have to do whatever it takes to win,” Coleman said. “I think you saw that type of sacrifice tonight.”

One out later and Lovejoy’s season was ended on just its fifth loss of the year.

“It’s disappointing for sure, but at the same time, these girls fought so hard,” Douglas said. “All season I have asked the girls to have a never give up mentality. They never gave up all season and they didn’t give up tonight.”

Celina moves on the Region II Finals courtesy of the series sweep, but the Lady Cats celebration will be short.

“We can’t pat ourselves on the back just yet,” Coleman said. “We can enjoy this one, but we aren’t done yet.”

Drummond took an even firmer stance.

“We have to start looking ahead right now,” she said. “There is no time to celebrate; we need to start getting ready for the next game.”

Updated Saturday, May 22, 2010 9:53 PM

Celina beats Lovejoy, gets to face North Lamar

BY JASON DELLA ROSA

HERALD DEMOCRAT

McKINNEY -- It was a familiar feeling for the Celina Lady Bobcats, who have made deep playoff runs a regularity over the past five seasons.

Another strong postseason push continues with a return trip to the state tournament almost in their grasp after Celina defeated Lovejoy, 5-1, to sweep a Class 3A Region II semifinal series on Friday night at McKinney Boyd.

Celina (31-6), the top-ranked team in 3A and last year's state runner-up, will play North Lamar in the region final later this week for a berth at state.

It is the fourth time in the last five seasons that Celina, which has won 21 games in a row, reached a region final.

"They're treating it as business but it's a new year and they're wanting do to their own thing," Celina head coach Billy Coleman said. "They believe that they can get there and you have to believe in order to do it."

Celina jumped to the early lead with a run in the bottom of the first. Shelby Carter had an RBI single to get the Lady Bobcats on the board but Celina missed out on a much bigger inning.

Jasmine San Miguel walked after Carter's single to load the bases as the first four batters reached. But when Katelyn Drummond flew out to center, Claudia Cantu -- who had three hits -- bluffed a tag at third. The trailing two runners, however, took off and Cantu ended up getting caught in a rundown. Kassidy Holmes flew out to end the inning and Lovejoy (29-5) kept the damage to a minimum.

"Getting a run out of it and having the bases loaded made me feel a little better than getting nothing at all," Coleman said. "Early on in a game, I want to put pressure on them and force them to make a play."

The Lady Bobcats kept the pressure on the Lady Leopards over the next three innings. Miranda West scored on a wild pitch to Holmes with two outs in the third and then Knowles scored on a pair of errors in the fourth to give Celina a 3-0 lead.

"You can't really relax with anyone in the lineup. They all did an exceptional job," Coleman said. "That's just a credit to the girls."

Lovejoy lefty Melissa Schreck, who didn't start in Game 1, left after throwing 73 pitches in just three innings. She allowed four hits and walked four, going to three-ball counts on six batters.

"We did a great job of being patient at the plate," Coleman said. "They threw a lot of change-ups and we didn't swing. We're a pretty disciplined bunch."

The lead was more than enough for Drummond, who didn't allow a hit until Schreck singled with one out in the fourth. Lovejoy didn't get a runner past first until the sixth, when a Schreck single and two-base error scored Jordan Stafford from first base.

Drummond allowed just three singles and struck out five while walking one on an economical 88 pitches.

"We changed our game plan up a little bit," Coleman said. "She did a good job of staying down in the zone and she hit her spots and we have a pretty good defense behind her."

Following Lovejoy's run, Celina salted the game away with a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Olivia Braddock reached on a one-out error and scored on a double to left-center by Lindsie Knowles, who finished with two walks and three runs.

Knowles scored on a two-out single by Carter, who had three hits, and Drummond closed out the Lady Leopards in order, highlighted by West's sliding catch near the Celina dugout, to finish off the sweep.

Updated Thursday, May 27, 2010 11:12 PM

Celina breaks tie with 12th-inning outburst

BY BILL SPINKS

HERALD DEMOCRAT

LUCAS -- Celina and North Lamar battled to a draw after seven innings on Thursday night. Then they battled some more under a rising full moon. And more.

Finally, in the top of the 12th inning, the Lady Cats exploded for six runs with pitcher Katelyn Drummond providing the big blow on a three-run double — her second double in as many innings — and Celina (32-6-1) finished off an 8-2 marathon win in Game 1 of a Class 3A Region II championship series at Lovejoy High School.

"I didn't expect anything less in the regional finals," said Celina coach Billy Coleman. "We knew it was going to be a battle, and wow, was it ever."

No. 1 Celina will try to put away the fourth-ranked Pantherettes in Game 2 tonight at 7 p.m. at Lovejoy. The Lady Cats are one win away from their second state tournament berth in a row, and their third in five years.

The bottom third of the Lady Cat lineup -- Paige Mongillo, Taylor Norris and Olivia Braddock -- singled to load the bases to start the 12th, and North Lamar hurler Rayn House hit Lindsie Knowles with a pitch, forcing in the go-ahead run.

That was only the beginning. Claudia Cantu singled home a run, then Shelby Carter hit into an error at third for another. Drummond capped it with her line drive to left off new pitcher Ali Hargis, clearing the bases.

"I was pumped by that point," Drummond said. "I couldn't wait to get in the batter's box."

It looked like Celina was going to win it twice earlier: first in regulation, and again in the 11th.

With one out in the 11th, Carter fisted a single just past third base for a hit, and went to second on Jasmine San Miguel's sacrifice bunt. The next batter, Drummond, roped a hard smash over the third-base bag into the left-field corner for a double, scoring Carter with the go-ahead run.

But North Lamar loaded the bases in the bottom half of the 11th on three singles. Carley Conley hit into a fielder's choice as Chelsea Jordan scored from third, sending it to the 12th stanza.

Before that, the Pantherettes rallied in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game, 1-1, on Conley's triple to the left-field wall, scoring Hargis from second.

They threatened to win the game right there, but Braddock's spectacular diving catch in short center and a groundout to shortstop kept the winning run stranded at third.

"It was hard, but I had to keep holding them," Drummond said. "My defense was there giving me encouragement, and that's what helped me the most."

Something had to give between Celina and North Lamar, with their combined winning streaks of 41 games and their perfect records against Class 3A competition going into Thursday night's Game 1.

In the top of the sixth, it looked like the one run Celina was able to push across would be enough.

Braddock started the Lady Cats with a one-out single past third base, the first hit allowed by North Lamar's House. Knowles followed with an infield bloop single and Carter drew a walk to load the bases with two out.

That brought to the plate cleanup hitter San Miguel, Celina's lone senior.

The drama built as San Miguel worked the count full, then fouled off a pitch. Finally, she took an inside fastball from House for ball four, scoring Braddock with the first run of the night.

"We were due to break out," Coleman said. "We weren't as disciplined as I would've liked at the plate. We were swinging at a lot of pitches out of the zone."

House retired the first 11 batters in order and allowed Celina's first base runner, Carter, on a wild pitch after a swinging strike three in the top of the fourth inning. But House got San Miguel to fly out deep to center to end the inning.

The Pantherettes' first opportunity to score occurred in the bottom of the fifth when Hargis led off by beating out an infield single deep in the hole at short, and went to second on a sacrifice bunt.

Conley then hit into a fielder's choice as the throw to third went wide of the bag. But the ball caromed right back to Celina freshman third baseman Miranda West, who threw to San Miguel at the plate to retire Hargis.

Celina 8, North Lamar 2 (12): Katelyn Drummond's three-run double capped a six-run 12th as Celina won Game 1 of the 3A Region II final series at Lovejoy. North Lamar's Rayn House struck out 22 in 11 1/3 innings.

Kaetlyn Drummond's RBI double put Celina ahead in the 11th, but North Lamar tied it in the bottom of the inning. Celina took the lead for good when Lindsie Knowles was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. With the score tied, 2-2, Paige Mongillo opened the 12th with a single to center, and back-to- back bunt singles by Taylor Norris and Olivia Braddock loaded the bases for Knowles.

Staff writer Mark Dent

Celina dropped by Paris North Lamar in Game 3

BY Kevin Hageland khageland@acnpapers.com

Published: Saturday, May 29, 2010 7:28 PM CDT

LUCAS — After losing in the Class 3A State Championship Game last season, the Celina softball team was intent on returning to state in 2010 regardless of its youthful roster.

That goal fell one game short as the Lady Cats were bested, 5-0, by Paris North Lamar Saturday afternoon in the decisive game of their best-of-3 Region II Finals series.

And while that result left Celina dejected, Lady Cats head coach Billy Coleman had a clear message to the girls after the game.

“I told them not to hold their heads low,” he said. “We have been to the regional finals in four of the last five years and I think that speaks volumes about what this program has done.

“I’m not even a little disappointed in this team.”

Aspects of the game that have been assets to the No. 1 ranked team in the state were their downfall Saturday as Celina amassed five errors, had just four hits and left seven runners on base.

“Timely hitting and defense are what got us here,” Coleman said, “and it wasn’t there for us today. I guess that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

Celina sophomore pitcher Katelyn Drummond and North Lamar hurler Ali Hargis battled it out in the circle Saturday with neither allowing a run through the first three innings. The Lady Cats’ best chance in that stretch came in second inning when a single by sophomore Paige Mongillo, a sacrifice bunt and a two-base error put runners at second and third with no outs.

But Hargis registered a strikeout to end the frame and keep Celina at bay.

Drummond would have no such luck in the bottom of the fourth as North Lamar batted around.

The first three Pantherettes runners reached base to load the sacks with no outs. After Drummond induced a shallow fly to right, the next three Pantherettes all reached base as well with RBI singles coming from Shelbi Phifer and Cobi Barker and a bases loaded walk to Chelsea Jordan.

That gave North Lamar a 3-0 lead and the Pantherettes would tag on another run in both the fifth and sixth innings.

“I think Katelyn did a good job,” Coleman said. “There’s no telling how many pitches she threw in this series and she hung in there until the end.”

While the bats did the damage in the fourth, it was the leather, specifically the gloves of Celina, that led to trouble in the fifth and sixth. The team had five errors in those two frames, including three in a row to start the fifth.

The Lady Cats, however, had a more pressing concern in the bottom of the fifth as sophomore second baseman Taylor Norris, who had been having trouble breathing due to swelling in her throat, dropped to her knees with one out. Trainers rushed out with water and Norris was taken off the field.

Norris didn’t return, but after the game, Coleman said that she was fine.

Sophomore Lindsie Knowles came in for Norris, but the fielding problems for the Lady Cats continued and they found themselves in a 5-0 hole through six innings. Celina could have made a dent in that deficit in the top of the sixth, but the Lady Cats grounded out with two outs and the bases loaded.

No such drama was in the cards in the top of the seventh as Hargis retired Celina in order to punch North Lamar’s ticket to state via a 5-0 victory and 2-1 series win. The loss was hard on all those clad in orange, but perhaps none more so than Celina’s lone senior, catcher Jasmine SanMiguel.

“I can’t say enough about what Jasmine has done for us,” Coleman said. “She is one of the main reasons we have been so successful and I am very grateful to her for that.”

Though nothing is guaranteed, Celina is scheduled to have the remainder of its roster back next season and the Lady Cats will no doubt be gunning for a fifth regional final appearance in six years and a return trip to McCombs Field in Austin.

“You never know how things might play out, Coleman said, “but I expect us to be back.”

Updated Saturday, May 29, 2010 8:28 PM

North Lamar ends Celina's softball playoffs

BY RICH HILLIARD

SPECIAL TO THE HERALD DEMOCRAT

LUCAS -- Coach Billy Coleman could have easily attributed Celina's losses in the final two games of the Class 3A Region II final series to North Lamar's pitching depth.

North Lamar started different pitchers in the first two games -- and had a third one briefly warming up before the finale on Saturday at Lovejoy High School.

However, he declined to do so after Celina's 5-0 loss in Game 3 that advanced North Lamar (33-5) to its first softball state tournament appearance.

"I don't think pitching factored into it. (Sophomore) Katelyn Drummond pitched well for us," Coleman said. "We just didn't get timely hits or make big plays. We didn't have a great defensive game."

Sophomore Ali Hargis pitched a four-hit shutout for her second win in as many days, as North Lamar stopped Celina's quest for a second-straight state trip.

"To be in the regional finals four of the last five years speaks volumes about this program and of the girls who have worked to put us in this situation," Coleman said. "We hope to be back in the same situation next year. Any time you can play with a chance to go to state is good. You just have to get some breaks and we didn't. That's just part of this game."

Celina will return all but catcher Jasmine San Miguel for 2011 when it moves into the new District 10-3A with Anna, Bonham, Commerce and Van Alstyne. Only three of the returning players will be seniors -- with seven coming back as juniors.

Senior Rayn House doubled to start the fourth and later scored, as North Lamar added three runs on four hits in the inning.

North Lamar then capitalized on a four-error fifth for Celina, adding another run. Celina then got three-straight outs, as sophomore shortstop Shelby Carter caught a pop up to end the inning, after teaming with freshman Miranda West for a force out at third for the first out. In between, sophomore left fielder Savanah Craver, who entered the game in the fifth after sophomore second baseman Taylor Norris left the field due to the heat that characterized Game 3, threw out a runner at third.

"(Taylor) got really hot and overexhausted," Coleman said. "She gave it all she could and went till she couldn't."

Norris received ice once she left the field under her own power, being replaced at second by Lindsie Knowles for the remainder of the game.

Trailing 4-0, Celina tried to rally in its sixth for a second-straight game. Carter hit a one-out single past shortstop and San Miguel reached on an ensuing mishandled roller up the middle to second base that could have been a force out for North Lamar.

Junior Kassidy Holmes followed with a drive into left center in the sixth, but North Lamar sophomore center fielder Chancey Williams made a standout diving catch to keep runners at first and second.

Paige Mongillo then earned a two-out walk to load the bases, but Hargis retired the final four Celina batters on groundouts to end the game.

Celina held North Lamar to only one again in the bottom of the sixth -- turning an RBI sacrifice fly to center into an inning-ending double play. Junior Olivia Braddock threw home after the catch to prevent another run from scoring, before catcher San Miguel tossed to freshman Miranda West to double off a runner at third.

Celina also had a chance to score in the second inning of Game 3 with one out. Mongillo singled into right and moved to third following an errant throw to second on a fielder's choice attempt off Claudia Cantu's grounder.

But North Lamar held Celina scoreless, tagging out Mongillo coming home on Taylor Norris' bunt near the plate and getting an inning-ending strikeout.

Knowles had a one-out single in the first and San Miguel led off the fourth with a hit, but both were stranded at first.

North Lamar threatened to score during the first three innings, but stranded three of four in scoring position.

On Friday, Hargis' double and Carley Conley's single drove in North Lamar's runs in the third in a 2-1 win.

Drummond allowed no earned runs overall and retired 13 of the final 15 she faced in the complete-game loss.

San Miguel singled twice and Drummond doubled for Celina, while Braddock also walked and hit an infield single.

Like Game 3, Celina tried to rally in the sixth on Friday. Mongillo's two-out bases-loaded walk cut the deficit to 2-1, scoring West, the usual courtesy runner for designated player Cantu who dropped a single just over third into left along the line. West moved to second on Carter's sacrifice groundout to first and to third on San Miguel's single to short center.

Cantu's mobility was hampered on Saturday, after twisting an ankle while running out a pitcher-to-first sacrifice in the seventh of Game 2.