Softball: Lake Creek's Season Ends With 6-5 Loss To Barbers Hill

CYPRESS, TX — In a battle of Houston-area softball titans, Lake Creek twice came up just short, ending the best season in the program’s short history.

Barbers Hill’s Reagan Duty hit a walk-off single in the eighth inning to send the second-ranked Eagles to a sweep of the third-ranked Lions in the Class 5A Region III championship Thursday at Cypress Ranch High School. The Eagles won the series opener 3-0 on Wednesday at Cy-Ridge.

Barbers Hill (40-2) advances to the UIL 5A State Softball Tournament, which begins June 4, for the fourth time and first since 2018. Lake Creek (38-2) suffered its only two losses of the season to the Eagles for an abrupt and bittersweet ending to a great season.

“I’m so proud of them,” Lake Creek coach Michelle Rochinski said. “They put themselves on the map. We talked about going into the season as the underdog, and by the end of it, we weren’t the underdog anymore. I can’t say enough about every single one of them from the seniors down to the freshmen. They had an unbelievable year.”

With a runner on second and one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, Duty faced a two-strike count after swinging out in front at a pair of change-ups from Lake Creek relief pitcher Emiley Kennedy. Duty connected on a breaking ball in the left-center gap to score the runner from second and send Barbers Hill to state. In the top of the inning, the Lions stranded the bases loaded when Barbers Hill relief pitcher Sophia Simpson got a strikeout to get out of the jam.

“I knew I was going to win the battle,” Duty said. “I had confidence. My team hyped me up. I put everything I’ve been working toward right in that pitch.”

Barbers Hill had to claw out of a four-run hole as Lake Creek’s aggressive approach paid dividends. Sophomore Ava Brown smacked a two-run home run to left off starter Samantha Landry in the first, and Caelee Clark scored on an error in the third. Kennedy capped the third with a run-scoring single up the middle to extend the lead to 4-0.

The Eagles began their slow climb in the bottom of the third, when Amber Thibodeaux hit an RBI triple to the right-center gap and scored on a sacrifice fly from Delaney Dunham to cut the lead to 4-2. Estela Garza then led off the fourth with a single and moved to third on a double from Landry. A sac bunt from Duty scored Garza to cut the lead to 4-3.

Barbers Hill chased starter Brown after Chesnee Clements led off the fifth with a game-tying solo home run to left. Kennedy came in and walked Thibodeaux, who later scored on a single from Kaylee Hornberger to give Barbers Hill a 5-4 lead.

“Down 4-0, our energy was kinda down, we were hanging our heads a little,” Barbers Hill coach Aaron Fuller said. “I said, ‘Hey, stay together. This is gonna be one heck of a comeback story.’ They did. … They were relentless.”

Brown came back with a leadoff double in the sixth, causing Fuller to turn to Simpson in the circle. Simpson struck out Kennedy, but Brown tied the game with stellar baserunning when Kalee Rochinski notched an infield single and drew a throw trying to reach second base.

Kennedy and Simpson matched scoreless seventh innings to send the game to extra innings.

After Wednesday’s shutout loss, Michelle Rochinski said she wanted to see her team put the ball in play more. The Lions notched seven hits in Game 2 but stranded five runners, none bigger than the three left on base in the eighth inning.

Clark went 3 for 4 to lead Lake Creek, and Brown went 2 for 4 with a double and a homer.

“We came out and we started the game strong,” Rochinski said. “We pushed. We fought. We did everything we could. It just came down to that last at-bat.”