Fincannon no hits Wortham as Dublin cruises unscathed into round three

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The Dublin Dominators are 18-1 and in the final pairing of the TTAS 10U state championships needing back-to-back wins over Troy Bomb Squad beginning at 6 this evening at Mildred. | Contributed

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(July 18, 2017) — Kiersten Fincannon pitched an abbreviated no hitter from the circle Tuesday and has surrendered just one hit in two blowout victories by the Dublin Dominators (15-0) at the Texas Teenage Softball 10U championships in Mildred.

Fincannon was the ace she has been all year, completely silencing the Wortham bats in the 11-1 mercy-rule victory. The ace found trouble only once only once when she walked four hitters for the only run she’s allowed through two rounds.

Fincannon didn’t need a lot of run support, but as they seemingly always do, the Dominator hitters dominated indeed with more than 10 hits including in-the-park home runs to the fence by Avery Johnson and Chloe Cisneroz, Fincannon’s battery  mate behind the plate.


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“Kiersten has just been doing what she’s done all year, just overpower people with her speed, and our hitters keep backing her up,” said Dublin head coach Tommy Cisneroz. “You don’t ever want to take your foot off the gas, especially in the state tournament where you know these teams can score runs and get back into games, but it sure makes you confident to jump out to a pretty good lead when you have a pitcher like her in the cycle.”

Now, Cisneroz says, comes the litmus test against Rogers,  who Cisneroz and staff have been scouting. “Everyone here is talking about Dublin and everyone is also talking about Rogers. They are one of the best teams in the state. We’ve scouted them here and we know they’re going to be a tough challenge,” he said. “But our girls will be up to it, they won’t back down from anyone. I still believe we’re going to win this thing.”

Neither team’s season will be on the line when the winner’s bracket duel begins at 4 p.m. Wednesday, but its in the third and fourth rounds of double-elimination tournaments that real favorites start to separate themselves. Wins in the next two rounds minimize the number of games you have to play as the tournament moves forward. On the flip side, a loss makes it a grind, and even if the loser survives until the final pairing, that team would have to beat a theoretically fresh tournament favorite in back-to-back games.

Dublin opened Monday in similar dominating fashion with Fincannon allowing just the one hit and the bats going crazy for a 12-0 win. More good news for the Dominators – Fincannon has not had to pitch a regulation complete game as the explosive bats have invoked the mercy rule and saved her blessed cannon of an arm precious innings that will matter more as the week progresses.

The Dominators are one win from matching their own Dublin record with three victories in a state tournament. They were 3-2 in the same event last summer, finishing sixth of 21 teams. Those were the first victories ever by a Dublin team at the TTAS state tournament.

“We’re doing a lot of things well right now. All our girls are playing great. They know their jobs at the plate and in the field and even when they are on the bases, and I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Cisneroz said. “Kiersten is outstanding, we all know that, but we have a lot more than a pitcher on this team.”


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