Llano’s Brian Cottle, April 11, received a cake for the 100th win of his seven-year softball coaching career; what propelled him to the impressive number was an 18-1 battering of Bandera: it was truly “icing on the cake.”
“This means a lot to me,” Cottle said after posing with the nourishment and his team. “It signifies that what we are trying to do actually works. If the kids believe in the coaches’ program, we’ll be successful.” Cottle earned 58 victories in four years at Gatesville; he led the Lady Jackets to their first-ever softball district crown and first-ever playoff triumphs in 2007. This is his third season here.
Llano did not waste much time telling the cooks they could begin mixing the flour and yeast for the cake. Kelsie Simpson followed a single by Chelsea Montgomery and two walks to drive in a run. Errors and a passed ball brought in one more, and Lauryn Looney’s line-drive base hit to centerfield made it a 4-0 game. That was Looney’s fourth hit in her last five at-bats.
Emily Schendel, who hits doubles about as often as she rides a bus, ripped a shot to left and this chased in two teammates. That’s Schendel’s seventh two-bagger in district play. Montgomery beat out an infield ground ball for her second hit of the inning, and Schendel scored. The Jackets, who sent 11 girls to the plate, were up 7-0 before the Bulldogs batted.
“We had to remind ourselves to be fundamentally sound,” Montgomery pointed out. “Sometimes our attitude isn’t what it should be, so correcting that problem was a goal before this game.” Two other goals were accomplished real quickly. Llano had only beaten Bandera, 4-1, with four hits, April 1.
What did go real well in that previous win was Cierra Thompson’s pitching--a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts. She was plenty good on the Bandera diamond, too. The tough righthander fanned nine (in five, mercy-rule innings), yielded three hits and allowed only two balls to reach the outfield grass.
“Her control is getting better, and she’s getting her stamina back,” Cottle observed. “She was stupendous.” That’s not a bad word to describe her efforts in four district wins: 24 innings in the circle, three runs, seven hits, and 44 strikeouts. If she would have just considered donating more time to softball, and, say, giving up basketball ...
Our program resumes its story in the fourth inning with the score holding at 7-0. The Jackets collected four more runs for their portfolio on three hits. Leslie Weihs doubled in one of the tallies when she tagged the delivery halfway to Uvalde; it needed one bounce to bang into the fence in center.
In the fifth frame, Montgomery would bat twice again, getting on base for the third time with a walk and driving in a run with a force out. “My job as the leadoff hitter,” she explained, “is to succeed and get the team pumped up. I think if I get on it motivates the rest of the lineup.”
There was motivation and patience in that fifth stanza, as the Jackets walked seven times. Katie Yeager had the big hit, a two-run double to center; she was two-for-three, on base three times and scored three runs for the night. 12 girls got their chances at the plate in this final inning, and the Orange and Black ended its colorful visit the way it began by adding seven runs to the scoreboard.
Swing Time: Schendel didn’t need to swing--she walked twice in the fifth to go along with that double in the first and a single (Yes! a single) in the third. First baseman Yeager made a fine defensive play to throw out Stacy Widner at home in the fourth. Jordana Miiller continues to excel behind the plate. Thompson struck out eight of the first ten batters she faced. One Bulldog reached base in the first three innings because of an error--Cierra’s! Curses!
Llano improved to 6-1 in district, and it remained tied with Wimberley. The two leaders met Tuesday night, April 15.
Cottle’s last Contribution: “I wanted the girls to realize this game at Bandera, on this night, was the most important thing in their lives; 100 percent concentration was necessary--no parents, no grandparents, no brothers or sisters, no boyfriends--and their effort showed they believed me.”
(Gracious, don’t you drool over the word “concentration,” instead of focus.)
It’s not Goodbye, Columbus, but it’s Goodbye, Bandera. No more softball games in district play there for the next two years as Llano journeys to Region I, and the Bulldogs stay in IV.
More important than BOYFRIENDS?