Softball And Baseball Playoffs Remain

By Tom Behrens

Football and volleyball playoffs were over a long time ago. Basketball and soccer playoffs are history for another year. We are down to the last two playoffs of the school year … softball and baseball.
The Bi-District softball game playoffs were played 4/27 – 4/29. In 6A Region 3 action, Ridge Point had no problems with Cinco Ranch (15-0), Katy took care of Fort Bend Travis (3-0), Tompkins beat Fort Bend Kempner (2-0), and Fort Bend Clements ended Seven Lakes season (2-0). Katy and Tompkins advance to the Area round of play this weekend, May 6.
I had the opportunity to talk with Katy Head Coach, Kalum Haack last Thursday afternoon before the Lady Tigers game against Travis.
“Coach, do you think the Tigers are going to be adding another big trophy to the school’s trophy case this year?” He replied, “It takes some really good softball playing, a little bit of luck to get there. If we get both of those things, then we have a pretty decent shot.”
The Lady Tigers came into the playoffs ranked 49 in the U.S. and number 1 in Texas. They had a home record of 15-0, 7-2-0 away, and 6-1-0 on neutral fields. Katy has scored an eye-popping 298 runs and allowed only 50 – very impressive, I would say.
The Lady Tigers were the Texas State Champions in 2015 and lost in the regional finals in 2016. Junior, Kayla Garcia, senior, McKay Bloxham, senior, Kylie Redding all played on the 2015 championship team. Most of the sophomores on this year’s team played last year. The Tigers are loaded with talent and experience.

Going down the roster, checking pitching first …
“Alyssa LeBlanc, our sophomore pitcher is by far better this year (than Tiger’s best pitcher in 2015), has the most wins. Also another sophomore, Chloe Cobb has been another pitching standout.
Kylie Redding, senior, has been injured most of the season; she has been back for about the last two weeks. “I think she can give us an inning, maybe two really good innings, but I don’t think she is strong enough right now, has enough stamina to go for a long period of time,” said Coach Haack. “I think she could pitch the same role she did her sophomore year when we won state, and be real successful at it.”

Hitting … a combination of some really good hitters…
“They’re knocking the crap out of the ball,” said Coach Haack “I bet this year we’ve hit more home runs than all my other teams combined.”
“However, the pitching we have seen so far, lately, hasn’t been as strong as we have seen in the past. Probably our best on-base percentage person is Tori Whillock, an outfielder. She’s our leadoff hitter. When she’s on, we’re all on. We’ll run when she gets on the base. She is just so fast.
“Alyssa LeBlanc is leading the team in home runs; I think she has 14. Chloe Cobb, our first baseman and pitcher has 12 homeruns. Kayla Garcia is our next big hitter. She doesn’t have the homeruns, but has the RBI’s.”
“We’re able to depend on each other a lot,” reported Garcia in another interview. “So throughout the lineup, we’re able to know that with whoever’s next, they’ve got it, and they’ll be able to get on base. We have confidence in everybody in the lineup.”

It’s not all about good pitching and hitting
Coach Haack emphasized that what has made this team as good as it has been is that they really get along with each other really well.
“Not once this year have we had any drama, any selfishness, and it’s been a lot of fun the ride we have been on so far. They play for each other really, really hard.”
Team confidence is high, but Haack doesn’t want the team to be over-confident. “The thing that I try to convey to them is that our district hasn’t been as strong as it has been in the past. I want to make sure that we don’t have a false sense of our ability from what we done in district. In the playoffs we are getting ready to see some really, really good pitching, really good hitters. It’s getting ready to change. Things aren’t going to be as easy in the last two months.”
The Tigers took care of Travis at Bi-District, 3-0, the fourth place seed in District 20-6A. The Travis Lady Tigers finished 9-7 in their district. The way the UIL structures the playoffs, at Bi-District, the first place team from one district (Katy) plays the fourth place team (Travis) from the other district in the first game.

Did Coach Haack expect a breather with Travis?
“I don’t want to say so,” said a laughing Haack. “If we come out and we play like we have been playing, then we should be in pretty good shape. If we come out and let Travis or any other team stay in the ball game, be competitive with us, and give them a little life, it will be a battle.”
Travis kept it close, 3-0. “If we play ball like we are supposed to, we should be in pretty good shape.

Play off scheduling

Softball and baseball playoffs are structured different at the Bi-District level than the other major sports. There could be one game or the best two out of three to determine who moves on to the Area level.
“When the coaches have a meeting with the opposing coach, the first thing we talk about is do you want to play a two out of three series, or do you want to play one game only? If you disagree on anything…the playoff series, the playoff umpires, anything … you flip a coin,” explained Coach Haack.
“With Travis I pretty much lost the flip, but won the flip on the home site. The Travis playoff matchup will be only one game. My preference, always, is two out of three.”
The Katy Lady Tigers next opponent at Area will be Cy Lakes May 6.
Cy Lakes made its playoff debut in 2013 and swept MacArthur. This will be their second time to make the area round.

Another first for Tompkins…First series win in playoffs

The Lady Falcons won the first game of the two-out-three game series over Kempner, (6-3), at home on Thursday evening.
In the second game, before one out in the first inning, the Falcons were unloading their hitting fire power.
Kaitlynn Kinslow and Kendall McGary walked and Zoe Pruden singled for the Falcon’s side of the inning going. Next was clean-up hitter, Mackenzie Brown, who promptly blasted the ball over the center field fence for a grand slam home run. In the second inning Brown added another run scoring single, making it 5-0.

The rest of the scoring ….
The Falcons tacked on four more runs in the third, and pushed the lead to 12-1 in the fourth inning. Consecutive doubles by Zoe Pruden and Kendall McGary in the sixth inning with Pruden scoring the final run sealed the game for the Falcons, 13-3.
Tompkins racked up 13 hits…seven for extra bases, six walks, and a RBI single. Sydney Hodge earned the win striking out five with three runs allowed on three hits in six innings.
While Katy dominated 19-6A, Tompkins was the only team to take the champion Tigers to a full seven innings.
The Falcon’s next opponent is Bellaire High School on May 6. The Cardinals of Bellaire defeated Cy Woods to advance to the Area round.
Tompkins boys’ basketball standouts drawing attention…
University of Michigan looking at Bieniemy
University of Michigan basketball is checking out Jamal Bieniemy at Tompkins. The Wolverines are not the only major college looking at Bieniemy. Along with Michingan, Purdue also made a stop at Tompkins, reports Rivals
Bieniemy, Tompkins’ junior guard, earned TABC all-region honors after leading the Falcons to a repeat playoff appearance in their third varsity season. An explosive scorer, Bieniemy was a first-team all-district selection for the second consecutive season with a year remaining. Tompkins finished 24-11 overall and 11-3 in district play.
Bieniemy is ranked number 119 in the 2018 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. He is the 28th best shooting guard and the number eight ranked player in the state of Texas. Bieniemy has offers to play for Creighton, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State
Josh Williams has committed to play basketball at University of South Dakota next season
With 1,242 points, Williams is the all-time leading scorer at Tompkins. Williams was ranked the No. 22 prospect in the city of Houston this past year by vype.com.
Williams was a three-year starter at Tompkins and a two-time all-district honoree. He holds school records for single-season points (543), career 3-pointers (195) and single-season 3’s (93). Williams shot a single-season record 39 percent from beyond the arc and shot 81 percent from the free-throw line throughout his high school career.