Lake Creek Softball On Verge Of History Against Barbers Hill

MONTGOMERY, TX — When Billy Hicks ponders what the third-ranked Lake Creek High School softball team has accomplished — and intends to accomplish — he's not sure if he's seen anything quite like it.

Lake Creek (38-0), in just its second full season as a program, will face perennial powerhouse and second-ranked Barbers Hill (38-2) in the Class 5A Region III final, a three-game series that begins with at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Cypress Ridge High School. Games two and, if necessary, three will be played played Thursday at Cy-Ridge beginning at 5 p.m. The winner punches their ticket to the UIL Class 5A State Softball Tournament.

Hicks, the longtime Texas high school softball coach with 582 career wins among stops at Snyder, Brazosport, Sweeny, La Grange, A&M Consolidated and Houston St. Agnes Academy, runs txprepsoftball.net, which keeps state records and playoff brackets, helps organize playoff sites and posts coaching vacancies among other notable items across the state. If it happens in the Texas high school softball community, Hicks probably knows about it.

"I don't really remember anyone getting to the state tournament as a first-year, second-year program," Hicks said. "Back in the old days in the '90s, that happened because we were building the sport, but now that we have 1,000 schools playing, this is something that's very rare."

Hicks noticed a similarity between Lake Creek and Lake Belton, the first-year program that is set to play in the 4A Region III final this week. Both programs are from new schools in two-high school districts that moved their softball coaches from the old school to the new school. For Lake Belton, Matt Blackburn took over after more than a decade at Belton High School. Similarly, longtime Montgomery softball coach Michelle Rochinski began coaching Lake Creek in its inaugural 2019 season.

Hicks said the continuity between the coaches and players that moved schools with them could have played a huge role in their early success.

"They already had an idea how the program runs," Hicks said. "They know the strategies their coach uses, so that's an advantage for a new program."

Still, Lake Creek's season didn't come out of nowhere, even if an undefeated season entering the regional finals was unexpected. The Lions went 15-1 in a coronavirus-shortened 2020 season after making the playoffs in their first year. By the time this season's playoffs came around, fans across the state were looking forward to this week's matchup of powerhouses, including Hicks.

"I think this Lake Creek-Barbers Hill matchup this week is probably the best in the state," Hicks said. "There's some other regional finals that are really good in all classifications, but I've kinda had my sights set on this series since the playoffs started."

The magnitude of the game doesn't escape Rochinski. The Lions, who have outscored their playoff opponents 70-1 in six games, will finally play a team with similar pitching strength in both talent and depth. Like Lake Creek, Barbers Hill also shows little to no weakness on offense.

Senior Emiley Kennedy, a Texas A&M signee, and sophomore Ava Brown have been phenomenal starting pitchers for Lake Creek, which has a 0.37 team ERA. They are countered by Louisiana commit Samantha Landry and Texas signee Sophia Simpson for Barbers Hill, which has given up just 15 runs all season. With the starters being such an even matchup, Rochinski indicated that junior Brenna Kelly, who has pitched in tough relief spots and also sports a sub-1.00 ERA, could be an x-factor in the series.

"Just being able to start a program from the bottom up and be where we are right now, it is a dream come true," Rochinski said. "The further along we go, it's feeling more realistic, but we cannot look past Barbers Hill. It's going to be a great matchup. It seems like this is what everyone's been kinda waiting for."