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Easy pickings: Celina rolls Farmersville in opening round
BY CHRIS O'DELL, codell@starlocalnews.com
FRISCO -- After dominating Friday night's postseason opener with an 18-0 victory over Farmersville in Game 1 of a best-of-3 set, the Lady Bobcats had an encore performance on Saturday afternoon.
Playing in Frisco, Celina earned an 8-0 win in Game 2 behind a strong pitching performance from hurler Claudia Cantu and ousted the Lady Farmers from the playoffs with the sweep.
"To score 26 runs in two games and not give up any against a team like Farmersville is pretty good," said Billy Coleman, Celina head coach.
"[Cantu] has only pitched six games max this year," Coleman said. "So for her to go out and do that was huge."
The Lady Bobcats got on the board early when leadoff hitter Lindsie Knowles drew a walk from Farmersville starting pitcher Taylor Eaves and Celina shortstop Shelby Carter roped an RBI double to score Knowles.
In the top of the inning, Cantu retired the side in order, including a strikeout of outfielder Cheyenne Taylor to end the inning.
Cantu would pitch herself into a little bit of trouble during the second inning after hitting Eaves in the helmet and surrendering her first hit of the night in the following at bat.
However, there was no damage done, as Cantu got catcher Maranda Craddock to strike out for the inning's second out and ended the frame after sophomore Kat DuMais hit a weak grounder for an easy out.
Celina then gained a little seperation in the home half of the second by scoring three runs to go ahead 4-0.
The scoring began when first baseman Janie Knowles drew a leadoff walk before advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Alexis Elizondo. Knowles crossed home plate on an RBI grounder from designated player Mackenzie Armstong.
Third baseman Miranda West followed the Celina run with an infield single and scored after Lindsie Knowles belted a two-run homer over the left field wall.
"We were able to take some of that early pressure away," Coleman said. "Getting those runs early on is always big."
Cantu retired the side in order during the third inning to make it five straight batters sat down.
The home half of the third would be the only inning the Lady Bobcats failed to score a run.
"Any time you can score almost every inning, it makes the pitcher have to work that much harder," Coleman said.
Cantu would help her own cause in the fourth by hitting a sacrifice fly to score Armstrong and put Celina ahead 5-0.
Farmersville then added its second and final hit of the afternoon when Taylor hit a single to left field.
The Lady Bobcats would get out of the inning having faced the minimum though when Taylor was thrown out by Celina catcher Paige Mongillo after trying to steal second.
Defensive miscues by the Lady Farmers allowed two more runs to come home during the fifth inning and put Celina's lead at seven runs.
Eaves ended the game surrendering eight runs on eight hits and five walks during six innings of work.
The sixth inning saw Lindsie Knowles and Carter become the only two players in the game to finish with more than one hit.
Knowles' leadoff triple in the inning made her 2-for-2 at the plate with two walks. She would score in the next at bat on an RBI ground out from Cantu.
Meanwhile, Carter got her second hit of the game on a one-out single in the same inning to end the contest 2-for-4.
With the game well in hand by the seventh, Cantu made sure Farmersville went down quickly to end the game.
The senior retired the side in order during the inning to make it 11 straight hitters sat down.
"You've got to play defense and we did that today," Coleman said.
With the two-game sweep, the Lady Bobcats improved to 20-10 on the season and now wait for a second-round matchup against Sanger.
Moore, who went five innings without surrendering a hit on Friday, is slated to make the first start of the potential three-game series. However, Coleman said specifics of the round had not been determined as of Saturday.
"You never know what coaches are going to want to do in these situations," he said.
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