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May 12, 2005 - The
Northwest High School softball team has a knack of making sure fans get their
money’s worth when it comes to the playoffs. The Lady Texans have forced extra
innings in their last three post-season games, dating back to last season.
So it came as no surprise that Friday’s Class 4A bi-district playoff game
against Mesquite Poteet came down to extra innings. NHS, which had lost three of
its last four games in extra innings, was not denied this time. The Lady Texans
got two runs in the top of the eighth inning and then held the Lady Pirates
scoreless to secure a 3-1 victory.
Pitcher Brittany Barnhill snapped Northwest’s overtime blues with an inning
that belonged to her entirely. The sophomore smashed a two-run home run in the
eighth to give her team the lead, then she took the field and struck out two of
the final three batters.
The extra inning heroics will send her team to the regional quarterfinals later
this week.
“We focused on the games we won (in extra innings) and remembered that coming
in,” said NHS coach Tanya Laird. “It was our turn to win one of these kinds
of games and the girls stuck with it.”
The Lady Texans improved to 25-5 and move on to the third round of the state
playoffs where they will face district foe McKinney North – the No. 1 team in
the state. The Bulldogs swept Forney in a best-of-three series. Mesquite Poteet,
the District 11-4A champion, ended the season at 24-7.
In its playoff win, Northwest produced the winning runs in dramatic fashion.
Lady Texan Michele Huff got things started in the eighth inning with a leadoff
walk.
It appeared that NHS was going to strand another base runner as the next two
batters struck out. That’s when Barnhill delivered the knock-out punch. The
sophomore crushed a pair of line drives that were foul, one of which cleared the
outfield wall. Huff stole second, but the Pirates mistakenly chose to pitch to
Barnhill rather than intentionally walk her. She made Poteet pay for that
decision as she hammered a 1-2 pitch to the wall for a two-run home run and the
winning margin.
“I didn’t think she would give me anything close to hit,” Barnhill said of
her winning hit. “I’m really glad she did, though. I really am. She has
great stuff and usually gets me.”
The Lady Texans scored their first run in the third inning. Poteet answered in
the fourth inning when Rebecca Hollis doubled to tie the game at 1-1.
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