Flash Staff Report
TheFlshToday.com
(July 21, 2017) — A group of Dublin girls are fighting for a state championship.
The Dublin Dominators (18-1) survived their first elimination contest with a 10-6 win over the Belton Bomb Squad, setting up the final pairing at the Texas Teenage Softball 10U Championships in Mildred.
Now, another Bomb Squad, also the mascot of the winner’s bracket finals qualifier from Troy, awaits.
The final pairing begins at 6 p.m. and Dublin must win back-to-back contests half an hour apart while Troy, thanks to its 7-5 upset of the Dominators Friday evening, needs just one win to claim the state title.
This time, Cree Hicks delivered from the plate for Dublin.
Belton elected to try the unique move of walking not just one, but both of Dublin’s power hitters back-to-back, putting Kiersten Fincannon and Chloe Cisneroz, the daughters of the Dominator assistant and head coaches, respectively, on base ahead of Hicks.
Coach Fincannon spoke to Hicks before she stepped to the plate, making sure the young Dubliner understood full well what the Belton coach was saying.
He didn’t think Cree could hit, and she proved him wrong. As did the nests batter, Callie Sears.
And just like that, Dublin was on its way.
“We had two girls who were kind of upset when they realized what was going on with them walking Kiersten and Chloe and they went up and made them pay for it,” head coach Tommy Cisneroz explained. “Our girls are proving every day that we aren’t all about this two players. They are great, but we have a whole team of good players and we’re here to play and win as a team.”
That team was ahead 3-0 and saw Belton trim it to 3-1, but after the explosion led by those hits by Hicks and Sears, Dublin stormed out to a 10-2 advantage then held on for dear life.
“The Belton girls had a good team and they play hard and fight all the way to the end,” he said. “That team was a hard out, and we had to beat them twice to eliminate them.”
After eliminating Belton in third, Dubllin will need to beat another team twice, one it has already lost to, and the wins will have to come in back-to-back gems.
“Troy is good, they don’t really have anyone that stood out to me, but they play good as a team,” said Cisneroz.
Troy, at least in its first meeting with Dublin, balanced its lineup by placing some of its strong hitters near the bottom of the lineup as opposed to loading the top and middle, as most do.
“They surprised us a little with that, but it won’t surprise us again,” said Cisneroz. “They also took advantage of somer errors when were a little off our game and we can’t let that happen again.”
Dublin has never celebrated a state championship in youth sports. Before the Dominators placed sixth with three wins the same event last summer, no Dublin team enjoyed so much as a win in a Texas Teenage Softball state tournament
“We’re trying to make history,” Cisneroz said. “I know we already have in some ways, but we want to make it in a big way.”
And they can, if they can win two more tonight.
IKre Hicks*** Thanks for the great articles on the Dominators!