Honeybees set bi-district softball plans with Springtown

Stephenville-Godley softball Feature — Rus Mayes, 8-4A softball coach of the year, gave Nadine Arredondo, the district's offensive player of the year, a low five following one of her school-record 12 home runs this season.

By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com

STEPHENVILLE (April 24, 2017) — Nobody wants to go into the playoffs shorthanded, and every young lady wants off the day of her high school prom.

With the Region I-4A track and field meet to work around for both teams and prom to work around in Springtown, working out the details of a best-of-three Region I-4A bi-district softball series was a chore for Stephenville head coach Rus Mayes and his college fraternity brother, Springtown head coach Scott Mann.

The Honeybees (23-4), outright district champs in 8-4A, and the Porcupines (14-16), fourth-place finishers in 7-4A, decided to begin their series with home field advantage for one – Stephenville won that – followed by a neutral field for games two and three.

All has been settled, and here is the finalized plan:

Game 1: Springtown at Stephenville, 7 p.m. Thursday at McCleskey Field

Game 2: Stephenville vs. Springtown, 4 p.m. Friday at Hawley

*Game 3: Stephenville vs. Springtown, 8 p.m. Friday at Hawley

*-Game 3 is only if needed and will not immediately follow Game 2. Brock and Wichita Falls City View will play Game 2 of their Region I-3A bi-district series at 6 p.m. Friday at Hawley, and, if necessary, Game 3 of Stephenville vs. Springtown will follow that contest at 8 p.m. Friday.

The winner advances to the area round to face Brownwood or Burkburnett.

The Honeybees enter the state playoffs having won 11 of their last 12. They were 11-1 in 8-4A district contests, outscoring district opponents a whopping 149-20. It was their second straight district title, secured with a 6-5 win over Alvarado that began on Friday and because of weather was concluded on Saturday, a year to the day after the program earned its first ever district championship in 2015.

Stephenville enters the post season hitting .404 as a team with a .503 on-base percentage and a .646 slugging percentage while slugging a school-record 28 home runs.

Senior third baseman Nadine Arredondo is the player Stephenville did not want to be without due to the Region I-4A Track and Field Meet in Lubbock, hence the agreement to have the series end in Hawley, north of Abilene. Arredondo has belted a school-record 11 home runs this season, including a two-run bomb in the sixth inning Saturday morning, putting the Bees on top for good in a 6-5 win over Alvarado.

Julia Flores hit her sixth home run in the second inning of that game – back on Friday night brefore the storm blew in – and is tied with Arredondo for the team lead with 46 RBI. Jessica Howell has five home runs, while Sami Shaffer, who is out with a broken arm but could possibly return during or after a third-round series if the Bees are still alive, has four homers along with a team-best six triples.

Arredondo is hitting a whopping .536 on the season, Floreds .514 and Shaffer .508. Morgan DiCiccio bats .411, Madison Gilder .397 and Sam Luna .388,

In the circle, Flores is 21-4 on the season and is sporting 2.03 ERA. The junior has struck out 181 opposing batters in 127.2 innings and has yielded less than a walk plus hit per inning.