JARRELL — Timely hitting and dominant pitching from Ariana Herrera gave the Granger softball team enough spark to defeat Goldthwaite, 6-2, Thursday evening in a bi-district playoff game at Jarrell High School.
Granger (10-10-1) advanced to the area round of the Class 2A-Division II state playoffs where the Lady Lions will face Burton (20-4). Itinerary for the matchup was not set as of press time.
Herrera struck out 11 batters in the win. She surrendered two runs on four hits without giving up a walk.
Goldthwaite struck first in the opening atbat. Danika Macias, the Lady Eagles’ pitcher, hit a one-out RBI single to give her team a 1-0 lead.
Granger made sure its deficit was short-lived in the bottom of the first. Izzy Tavernier hit a tworun triple and scored on a sacrifice fly from Rylinn Hamby to put the Lady Lions up for good, 3-1, after one complete inning.
The score remained the same until the bottom of the fourth. Marissa Hall drew a bases-loaded walk to increase the Granger lead to 4-1.
Goldthwaite used an error to score a run in the top of the sixth, but was unable to get any closer to the deficit. The Lady Lions used two errors to scored two more runs.
In addition to her performance in the circle, Herrera (2-3) also led Granger at the plate. Tavernier (1-4, 3B, 2 RBI), Hall (1-2, 2 BB, RBI), Sofia Bernal (1-3), Abi Crouch (1-2, BB), Brooklyn Gaswint (1-3) and Kayla Weaver (1-2) also contributed.
