Lady 'Birds make playoffs, get Angleton
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley Time To Celebrate Brittney Oates (left) and Anna Raun knew they had a win and a spot in the playoffs early in El Campo's game with Lamar. The team will face Angleton Friday.

The Lady' Birds are rolling into the post season again and they will face a familiar foe - Angleton.

Last year, the Lady Wildcats ousted El Campo in the first round in a best of three series. This time, it will be one and done between the two rivals.

El Campo will play Angleton Friday at 7 p.m. on the campus of Fort Bend Baptist Academy in Sugar Land.

It may seem like a tough draw considering Angleton's recent success against El Campo, but the Lady 'Birds are ready for a challenge.

After Friday's 9-0 win over Lamar Consolidated, the girls are thrilled to be in the playoffs and prepared to take on any team.

"We feel really great right now," Angela Fiala said after the win. "Our first goal was to first goal was to go 10-0, but that didn't happen. Now, we're in the playoffs and we're trying to make a run for it. Hopefully, that will happen."

Angela Fiala

Fiala, a senior, was a big part of El Campo's win. She earned four hits in four at-bats, hit two RBIs and scored four runs.

Before the Lamar game, the Lady 'Birds were in a bit of a slump. Now, the bats are alive and El Campo has power to go with its great defense and pitching.

"It wasn't a whole-team slump, but some of the girls who (usually) come through in key situations didn't come through in key situations in a couple of games," Shane Wagner, head coach of the Lady 'Birds, said. "I just needed them to have a couple of good swings. I saw what I needed to tonight.

"As long as we can keep scoring and putting the ball in play, and that's what we are doing. We hit the ball hard tonight. We started off a little bit slow even though we scored a little bit early, but toward the end, we really were hitting the ball hard."

Senior Kristi Michaelsen said she feels like any questions regarding El Campo's hitting were answered with Friday's nine runs.

"Wagner told us that we've kind of slacked off on the hitting, so we concentrated on that (Thursday) in prac- tice and today before the game," Michaelsen said. "I think we really improved on our hitting.

Kristi Michaelsen

"It feels really good. I was kind of nervous coming out to this game, but I knew we could do it. I had faith in us and it feels good - really."

El Campo's first run came in the bottom of the first inning.

With one out, Fiala hit a single and stole second and third base.

Alexis Cooper hit a single to bring Fiala home and put the Lady 'Birds up 1-0.

Fiala's biggest hit came in the third inning in a lead-off at-bat.

She crushed the ball into deep right field and showed speed around the bases.

As soon as the ball was hit, Wagner jumped at third base and waved his arm around frantically telling Fiala to keep running. The coach kept jumping until Fiala was home on an inside-the-park home run.

"Emily (Bergstrom) was like, 'You're going to get a home run one of these days,'" Fiala said. "I hit it and I just kept going and he kept on sending me.

"I was like, 'What is he doing?' I was just ready to stop at third. I was about to slide. That was my first instinct, to slide. He just kept on going, so I just kept on going."

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley She Can Swing Senior Danielle Smith provides a solid bat every game for El Campo. Smith and the Lady 'Birds will take on Angleton Friday for the softball team's first-round playoff match.

After Fiala's score, Brittney Oates hit a single and stole second and third base. She came in on a single by Danielle Smith.

El Campo took a 3-0 lead by the end of the inning and claimed another two runs in the fifth.

Fiala scored again after hitting a single and stealing second base. Cooper brought her home on a single and later scored to put El Campo up 5-0.

The sixth inning was the Lady 'Birds' most explosive outing.

Michaelsen led off with a single and Hayley Pierce came in to run for her. Lindsey Marik followed with a base hit.

Anna Raun put down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third.

A single to left field by Fiala scored Michaelsen. Oates followed with a triple to score Marik and Fiala. Oates later scored the final run and gave the game it's final score of 9-0.

The Lady 'Birds' relentless attack on Lamar Consolidated is what Wagner wanted to see his team do the entire season.

"I was probably more pumped up for this game vocally then I have been for any game this year because I want them to learn that killer instinct," Wagner said. "If that has to be me to show them that killer instinct, that's my job. I'll keep doing it if I have to be that vocal. I enjoy being that vocal.

"The girls did a good job. We have done that several times this year. We don't score a whole lot in one inning, but we do it throughout the game. That's what we've got to do, we've just got to keep on going."