Carroll shuts down Mansfield bats; Boswell throws shut out; Guyer comes from behind; Forney wins late

CARROLL 6, MANSFIELD 1

UTA bound outfielder Reagan Hukill hit a lead-off home run on the game’s second pitch for Mansfield, but Carroll pitchers Kelly Shackelford and Lauren Long kept the Tigers off the board and allowed just two more hits as the Dragons won Game 1 of their Class 6A Region I area round softball series on Tuesday at Carroll.

Game 2 is 7:30 p.m. Friday at Mansfield.

CJ Hammer drove in a pair to give the Dragons (23-13) a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning and Shackelford helped her cause with an RBI single up the middle.

Shackelford picked up one of her six strikeouts in the second when Mansfield (24-8) had runners on the corners.

Piper Harness, who was voted hitter of the week, added an RBI single in the fourth to push Carroll’s lead to 5-1. Allie Nuenke hit a deep fly over the left field wall in the fifth.

Long allowed one hit in three innings of relief. She caught a liner and doubled off the runner at first to end the game. Shackelford allowed two hits in four innings.

“It’s nice as a staff, knowing what we have and how we can use everyone to get all the jobs done,” Shackelford said.

Tarleton State bound second baseman Madison Cashon went 3 for 4 and reached base all four times.

“Every time a team has scored first, we’ve done a really good job at answering them,” Cashon said. “It’s great that it’s the first inning when we usually step on it right away.”

BOSWELL 7, BURLESON 0

Julie Kennedy improved to 21-2 on the season after allowing seven hits with 15 strikeouts as the Pioneers shut down the Elks in Game 1 of their Class 5A Region I area round series at Cleburne.

Game 2 will be 7 p.m. Thursday at Argyle.

The Pioneers (31-5) jumped on the Elks (21-8) early with back-to-back RBI doubles from Kennedy and Emma Robertson to give Boswell a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Emma Blagrave added an RBI sacrifice fly to center.

Blagrave and Byrdie Skipper drove in runs in the third to push the lead to 5-0. Gracelyn Rosales, who went 3 for 4, singled in a run in the fourth and Kennedy, who also went 3 for 4, picked up her second RBI double in the seventh.

Brailey Wasik led Burleson with two hits.

GUYER 8, LAKE RIDGE 6

Ryan Gallegos hit the game-winning RBI single in the top of the seventh and the Wildcats erased a late two-run deficit to beat the Eagles in Game 1 of their Class 6A Region I area round series at Irving Nimitz.

Game 2 is 7 p.m. on Thursday at Nimitz.

Trailing 6-4 entering the seventh, Guyer (25-7) tied it with an RBI triple from Morgan Medford, who then scored on the sac fly by Kara DeBruin, who hit a three-run inside-the-park home run earlier in the game.

Lake Ridge (20-7-2) trailed 4-0, but managed a 6-4 lead with two RBIs from Chloe Jones and Maggie Miller.

FORNEY 4, TEXAS HIGH 1

Forney’s bats finally woke up in the top of sixth inning after a pitching duel between Forney’s Savanna DesRochers and Texarkana’s Lindsey Eggers.

A&M commit Trinity Cannon’s RBI single gave Forney a 1-0 lead and DesRochers, last year’s 5A state title game MVP committed to Kansas, added a two-run single to ice the game and give the Jackrabbits (30-2) a 1-0 lead during their Class 5A Region II area round series at Paris Chisum.

Hannah Holdbrook reached on an error in the seventh and Caleigh Cross scored.

Game 2 will be 7 p.m. Thursday at Chisum.