Emory Rains defends UIL softball title; Calallen, Liberty to meet in Class 4A final
Emory Rains 11, Diboll 5
The Wildcats capped off a 39-1 season with a win in the UIL Class 3A state championship game Thursday night at McCombs Field in Austin. Rains defends its title after winning in 2019.
Rains beat Bishop 2-1 in the semifinals on Wednesday.
Corpus Christi Calallen 10, Iowa Park 9
Calallen got home runs from Megan Geyer, Lauren Mata and Jasmine Pena, but had to hold off Iowa Park in a Class 4A state semifinal at Georgetown High School.
The game was scheduled for 4 p.m. at McCombs Field in Austin, but inclement weather in the Austin area forced the game to be moved and delayed until 7 p.m.
Calallen also reached the state final in 2019, but lost to Angleton in the 5A final, 8-1.
Iowa Park (39-2) built a 5-2 lead in the second inning with four in the first and one in the second. A Madi Fulfer double to center drove in two in the first.
Mata hit a two-run homer in the first to get the scoring started for Calallen. Geyer hit a solo shot in the third to cut the lead to 5-3 and Pena’s solo shot in the sixth put the Wildcats up 8-5.
Rylee Goins blasted a grand slam home run to left center for Iowa Park in the bottom of the seventh with two outs to cut the lead to 10-9 and Gracie Justus followed with a single to center, but a comebacker ended the game.
Liberty 4, Bullard 3
Liberty rallied back from a 3-0 deficit to beat Bullard in a Class 4A state semifinal game Thursday night at Georgetown East View High School. The game was moved from UT Austin due to weather.
Liberty (32-7) will look for its second state softball title when it takes on Calallen (33-8) at 1 p.m. Saturday at McCombs Field. Liberty won the 4A title in 2018, beating Vernon 3-1.
Bullard scored three times in the bottom of the third inning without picking up a hit. It drew two walks and two fielder’s choices, and scored two runs on balls that reached the backstop.
Liberty tied it in the fifth when it loaded the bases on a lead off single and two Bullard errors. Then Jaylen Prichard cleared the bases with a triple to left field.
Maci Beam’s RBI single in the top of the seventh gave Liberty the go-ahead run.
