Lady Panthers look to put things together for playoff berth

As the regular season draws to a close for the Colleyville Heritage softball team, the Lady Panthers are still very much within striking distance of a postseason berth.

Colleyville Heritage was on a four-game winning streak heading into Tuesday's game with L.D. Bell and will travel to Southlake at 7:15 p.m. on Friday to take on Carroll.

“We've got to be able to hit with them and we've got to be able to play better defense,” coach Allison Conaway said in reference to the teams’ first meeting. “We took an early lead, but then made a bunch of mistakes and let them take a lead. I think we can pitch, and if we can play solid defense, we can make it a more competitive game.”

Colleyville Heritage defeated Haltom on Friday night with a 4-3 victory over the Lady Buffalos, and Conaway said that victory was a good one for her team.

“This was the second time that we've played them,” Conaway said. “We didn't play them as well as we would have liked to the first time. So it was nice to get this win and keep us in the playoff hunt. We pitched well, had some timely hits and made some timely plays as well.”

Conaway said she had a couple of standout performances in the game.

“Shelby (Bourland), our catcher, hit a grand slam, which gave us our runs for the game,” Conaway said. “Then Fallon (Dean) pitched very well, and that kept us in the game.”

The Lady Panthers defeated L.D. Bell by a score of 6-3 last Tuesday night in a game in which Conaway said her team looked pretty good all the way around.

“We pretty much went in there and took care of business,” Conaway said. “We did everything well that night.”

With about two thirds of district behind them, the Lady Panthers are in the hunt for a playoff berth, and Conaway said that the objective at this point is pretty clear-cut for her team.

“We are still in the mix,” Conaway said. “We have our minds set on trying to win out the rest of our games. We know that if we do that, we will be guaranteed a spot, and that is what we are focusing on. Really, that is what we have been focusing on since we started the second round.

“We felt that we missed some opportunities in the first round and lost some games that we really should have won, so we're going to treat each game from here on out like a playoff game.”

Colleyville Heritage had won four straight games, including three district victories, heading into Tuesday's matchup with Bell.

In order to have a strong run and get the victories it needs to pick up one of the top four spots in district, Conaway said it will take a couple of things.

“We've got to put all three facets of the game together,” Conaway said. “We have not been able to do that consistently this year. We're either hitting the ball well but not pitching well, or we're playing great defense, but not hitting the ball, and we' haven't had a game where we've put hitting, pitching and defense all together.”

This story was originally published April 13, 2015 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Lady Panthers look to put things together for playoff berth."