A second season begins now for the College Station and A&M Consolidated softball teams as their quest to a deep playoff run initiates Thursday.
The 21-5A champion Lady Cougars will take on 22-5A’s fourth-place team Waco University at Lady Cougar Field at 6 p.m. Thursday in the first game of a best-of-three bi-district series.
The second game of the series will be at Waco ISD Stadium at 5 p.m. Friday. If necessary, the third game would be played 30 minutes after.
It’s a second straight trip to the playoffs for the Lady Cougars as College Station made the playoffs last year for the first time since 2019. They reached the regional quarterfinals before being swept by Georgetown.
“I mean really good,” College Station head coach Vinnie Carreon said of being back in the playoffs. “For me as a coach, I’m a little bit relieved that we’re here and we can start focusing on those things. The kids are excited, they’ve been since we lost to Georgetown last year.”
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Consol, which finished third in 21-5A, starts their postseason push on the road for its bi-district bout against 22-5A’s second-place squad Killeen Shoemaker at 6 p.m. Thursday in its best-of-three series.
The second game of the series is at 6 p.m. on Friday at Lady Tiger Field. If the two teams needed a third game, it would be played immediately afterwards.
Consol (22-5, 11-3) returns to the postseason after a one-year absence. Despite being just one year removed, it will be a new experience for a good chunk of the roster as Consol normally starts four sophomores in Emma Ford, Brooklyn Gidley, Peyton Valentine and Mackenzie Burdett. The Lady Tigers also typically start freshman Makenna Cline.
“One of the things that we’re trying to do is make sure that we don’t let the highs get too high and the lows get too low and that’s been one of our messages all season,” Consol head coach Heather Slaton said. “We’re in control of a lot of things, but we’re not in control of everything, so handle what you can handle, be responsible for yourself, make sure that we try to maintain a good attitude, positivity and working together.”
The Lady Cougars (25-5, 13-1) and Lady Tigers enter the first round with opponents that are a bit unknown.
Carreon says it’s hard to find out much about Waco University (15-12, 9-5) since the Lady Trojans didn’t play many nondistrict games and he hasn’t been able to gather a ton of information from others. What he has gotten from a few coaches that have matched up against them is that they have a solid top of the lineup and a pitcher that can find the strike zone frequently.
The key for the Lady Cougars is going to be playing to their strengths.
“It’s one of those deals that I think if we show up and play our best game, we’ve got a really good chance to advance,” Carreon said.
Consol knows a little bit more about Killeen Shoemaker (22-8-2, 11-3). Slaton says the Lady Grey Wolves are similar to her squad in their youth. The numbers back that up as the team’s leader in batting average is senior Jaden Crenshaw (.445), but everyone behind her is an underclassman.
Sophomore Diana Samuelu-Pedro (.429), freshman Taylor McClinton (.425), freshman Taya Brown (.394) and sophomore Kylee Czaplicki (.370) trail Crenshaw.
The Lady Grey Wolves have a slight advantage in postseason experience over the Lady Tigers. Last season, Killeen Shoemaker made it to bi-district, but fell to eventual state champion Montgomery Lake Creek.
Slaton is confident in her team relying on the same things that got them back into the postseason to help them make a playoff run.
“I think we got to play our game, we got to do what we’re capable of,” Slaton said. “Not focus on anyone else, not play up or down to any other level of competition. It needs to be us going out and working on things that we’ve been doing all year long. We expect for [senior pitcher] Raegan [Johnson] to be dominant and give us a chance to keep us in every single game like we need that to happen. We expect for our lineup top to bottom to be putting balls in play, so we’re scoring multiple runs in multiple innings.”
NOTES — It will be a historic series opener for the Lady Grey Wolves as it will be the first home playoff game in school history. Killeen Shoemaker opened in 2000 and has made it to the playoffs three times prior to this year, in 2007, 2019 and 2022. The second-place finish in district is also the highest for the school. …Consol won the coin flip between the two schools and elected to play the first game on the road, so the series could wrap up in College Station. “It’s good for us to be able to do that and kind of take a little breath and know that we’re coming back and we get another opportunity to play at home,” Slaton said. “That’s exciting. Home playoff games are fun, so we’re hopeful and looking for a big crowd, lots of support, need all of our Consol fans to come out and be there,” …As the district champs, College Station got to choose if they wanted a series or a one-game playoff and chose the series. Carreon wanted another home game for the team, the community and his preferences for Thursday games. “We get to get up the next day [on Friday] and do lunch or whatever and get to the game on our timing,” Carreon said. “That’s kind of my deal early on, I like to play at home if I can the first game and then do my traveling [for] game two and three.”