For five innings Friday night at Birdville High School, the Northwest softball team flirted with disaster. Its opportunistic offense had disappeared in the Class 5A area championship game against Arlington.
That was just the calm before the storm, and it was apparent as the Lady Texans never panicked. They scored seven runs in the final two innings to overcome a four-run deficit to beat the Colts 8-5.
Northwest put together 10 hits in the sixth and seventh innings combined, and Arlington had no answer. Even a pitching change did not prevent the District 5-5A champions from completing its stunning finish in its last at-bat.
AHS relief pitcher Liz Perez got her team out of the jam in the sixth inning but could not contain the Northwest bats in the seventh.
Northwest, which expected its season record to 23-9, will advance to the regional quarterfinals this weekend in a best-of-three series with Coppell at Birdville. Game one is Friday night at 7:30 p.m., while game two is set for 2 p.m. Saturday. Game three, if necessary, will immediately follow.
The Colts, who are finished at 15-14 overall, struck early and often. They scored three times in the first inning on just one hit. Northwest erased the shut out with a solo score in the third inning before Arlington answered again with two in the fifth to go ahead 5-1.
The game was just getting started for the Lady Texans as they made their last six outs count the most. They racked up 10 of their season-high 17 hits in the last two innings to rattle the Colts.
Junior Nicole Richardson smacked a sacrifice fly to center field to score the first run since the third inning. That set the stage for freshman Lauren Bixler to deliver like a veteran when she laced an RBI double to make it a 5-3 ball game.
The Lady Texans didn't stop there as they played like golfers - finding every hole on the field. They managed to load the bases which ended the night for starting pitcher Kayla Stellato. Courtney Bingham got the Colts out of the two-out jam as her team held a two-run lead going into the final inning.
The Lady Texans completed the come-from-behind win in the top of the seventh inning. The senior trio of Christin Robertson, Taylor Namey and A.J. Deal along with sophomore Natalie Nimmo got on base and scored in a five-run seventh to take an 8-5 lead.
Northwest pitcher Erinn Jayjohn did not allow a run in the final inning to preserve the win. She allowed just three earned runs for the night on six hits with nine strikeouts.
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