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Lady 'Birds ready for playoffs
The two teams faced off Friday night with the winner advancing to face Barbers Hill on a date yet to be determined. Before the match, the Lady 'Birds were working through typical practices and keeping the week just like an extension of the regular season. El Campo even played a practice game on Tuesday against Giddings to keep up a usual schedule. "It could have been a very long week with four practices and then a game on Friday," Shane Wagner, head coach of the Lady 'Birds said. "That was probably the best thing about the Giddings game - it was a normal week for us. We play on Tuesday and we play on Friday so everything is the same for us." Before playing Angleton, Wagner said he was hoping for something a little different for Friday. In previous years, the Lady Wildcats have had an advantage over El Campo, if only mentally. Most recently, Angleton ousted the Lady 'Birds in the first round of last year's playoffs.
"We can look at it as, 'Oh, Angleton has had our number in the past,'" Wagner said. "But then we can look at it again as, 'This is Angleton. Let's prove that we're better than they are.' Everything has to be done on the field. Really at this point, it didn't matter who it was (that we played). It is Angleton and we're familiar with them and they're familiar with us. It's just going to be the best team that wins." El Campo is a little more familiar with Angleton this year. Wagner got a chance to watch the Lady Wildcats Monday as they fought for the post-season. The Lady Wildcats took two wins in a tournament for District 23-4A's final playoff spot. After Monday's games were over, he met with Angleton Coach Kevin Hurley and quickly decided on a onegame playoff instead of a three-game series. Wagner wanted to keep the playoff game as short as possible to maintain a little mystery in El Campo's attack - namely pitcher Emily Bergstrom. Known to her teammates as Blondie, Bergstrom brings a different delivery as a left-handed precision pitcher. "We've seen them play and they haven't seen us play," Wagner said. "They probably have gotten some scouting reports on us, but I think our advantage right now is that they haven't seen Blondie pitch. She doesn't throw the hardest in the world and she moves the ball around well." The Lady 'Birds saw just how far a little pitching trickery can go Tuesday in their 3-0 win over the Giddings Lady Buffaloes. El Campo pulled ahead early with three runs in the first inning while Bergstrom held Giddings to four hits and struck out seven batters. "Giddings, I could tell, swings the bat really well but they were not able to adjust in seven innings to Blondie," Wagner said. "That's what I'm hoping for the Angleton game. I've watched them and they swing the bat really well. I'm going to tell you right now, they have not seen the type of pitcher that Blondie is from her speed to her coming from the left side to her being able to move it in and out. I'm hoping for the shock factor that they just cannot adapt to it within seven innings and we can adapt to their pitcher a lot faster." Senior Alexis Cooper said Bergstrom's pitching style can be quite intimidating to opponents. "She is tricky," Cooper said. "Her curveball is amazing. After Lauralee (Collins) had gotten hurt at Brenham (early in the season) and I went in there to catch, one day it was like her curveball was doing average and the next day it was breaking about two feet off the plate. It works like that. "With Emily, Giddings had a hard time. They were swinging before and they could have swung twice. Emily is special." That killer curveball has helped Bergstrom to an 18-5 record, 124 strikeouts and a 1.47 earned-run average. "It's her main pitch," Wagner said. "It's not her fast ball, it's going to be her curveball that she's going to live and die with. Because of that over the years, she has perfected that pitch a great deal. "That's what we do, we move in and out with that curveball and she's not going to strike you out, but she sure causes a lot of little pop ups and weak ground balls." Many people did not expect Bergstrom to have such a strong year. She made the move from first base to the mound in her senior season and immediately made others take notice of her strong presence. "It's probably not just a lot of fans that she's surprised," Wagner said. "She's probably surprised herself, surprised me and surprised the team. I've completely enjoyed working with her this year. I know if I call an outside pitch, that's where it's going to be. If I call an inside pitch, it's going to be there. I think that's what's done so well for us. "More than anything, as a team standpoint, I'd rather face somebody who throws hard because sooner or later, you're going to catch up with her. If you have somebody who's constantly hitting her spots and changing where the ball is going to be, that's hard for a hitter to get used to. I think that's why she has done so well this year." Information on El Campo's game with Angleton will be available in Wednesday's edition of the Leader-News. LADY 'BIRD STATS
EC Pitching Bergstrom - 7 innings, 4 hits, 0 earned runs, 7 strikeouts EC Leading Hitter Oates - 3 at-bats, 1 runs, 2 hits |
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