Lady Panthers sweep past Vidor
Liberty's Hollie Thomas fouls off this pitch against Vidor Thursday evening in Anahuac. The Vindicator | Jerry Michalsky
Breezy Pantalion of Liberty slides into second base with a steal against Vidor on Thursday evening.
ANAHUAC — The Liberty Lady Panthers just keep winning, and they took the opening series in the Class 4A Region III Bi-district round with an impressive sweep of the Vidor Lady Pirates.
In the opening game, the Lady Panthers Abby Vickers homered and drove in four runs as Liberty took game one in six innings.
Vickers had a two-run double in the third inning and hit a two-run homer in the sixth.
Liberty scored four runs before the Lady Pirates even came to the plate.
Kylee Bishop singled, and then Hollie Thomas reached on an error. Both players pulled off a double steal, and Bishop would score on a throwing error by the Vidor catcher and the Lady Panthers led 1-0.
Bayleigh Taylor then crushed a pitch that hit off the center field fence for a run-scoring double and the score was 2-0. Abbie Key followed with another double to plate Taylor; the advantage was 3-0. The extra bases continued as Marina Bourgeois tripled and Key scored to run the lead to 4-0.
Vidor scored a run in the bottom of the first, and then the Lady Panthers answered with a Breezy Pantalion home run in the second inning to make it 5-1.
The Lady Pirates put up a run in the bottom of the second inning to pull within 5-2 before Liberty exploded for six runs in the third.
Bayleigh Taylor and Key singled and then a double by Vickers made the score 7-2. Bourgeois put down a sacrifice bunt to move Vickers over to third. Pantalion reached on an error, allowing Vickers to score and the lead was 8-2.
After a Bailee Slack walk, Bishop lined a two-run single that would be followed by a Thomas double for another run and the Lady Panthers were cruising at 11-2.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Vidor pulled within 11-3 before Liberty put up a pair of runs in the sixth inning.
Thomas reached on an error and then Vickers delivered a two-run blast to make it 13-3. Bayleigh Taylor then sat down Vidor in the bottom half of the frame to end the game.
Taylor pitched 3 2/3 of an inning and struck out nine, while Brooklyn Taylor picked up the win by throwing into the third inning and striking out four.
On Friday night, the Lady Panthers swept past the Lady Pirates with a 12-2 win in five innings.
Bishop finished 4 for 4 at the plate and had five RBIs. Bayleigh Taylor had a home run and drove in three runs. Slack, Thomas, and Pantalion all had two hits each.
Brooklyn Taylor pitched four innings and struck out seven in getting the win on the mound.
Liberty is now 33-2 on the season and moves on to the area round against the Henderson Lady Lions with Game 1 in Nacogdoches on Thursday at 4 p.m. Game 2 will be at Lufkin Hudson High School and is set for Friday at 5 p.m. if necessary, Game 3 will follow Game 2.
Henderson finished second in District 174A and is coming off a sweep of Jacksonville.