Lady Eagles fall to Melissa in state championship

AUSTIN– Red and Charlene McCombs Field at the University of Texas was the place to be on Friday night as the eyes of the softball world watched.

Trailing by four runs in their final at-bat, the Barbers Hill Lady Eagles scored a pair of runs. They left the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning coming up short against the Melissa Lady Cardinals in the Class 5A Division I State Championship 4-2.

Coming into the game, Melissa enjoyed the No. 1 ranking in the country, while Barbers Hill enjoyed the No. 3 ranking.

The build-up to the game garnered national attention as the Lady Cardinals hit a single-season national record of 124 home runs.

The Lady Eagles pitching of Kentucky signee Hailey Nutter and sophomore Macie Bryant have combined for 463 strikeouts while allowing just 85 hits in 225.1 innings.

The pitching took front and center for the first five innings until the Melissa offense got busy in the sixth inning.

The Lady Cardinals scored three runs, including a run-scoring double by Kennedy Bradley and Melissa led 3-0.

Caigan Crabtree then connected for a solo home run in the seventh inning for a 4-0 advantage.

Barbers Hill rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Nutter led things off when a pitch hit her, and then Aybrie Corona singled. Izzy Lawrence followed with a walk to load the bases. Bre Norman got the Eagles on the scoreboard with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1.

JosLynn Cooper reached on a fielder's choice and the bases were loaded again. Zoey Hood then drew a bases-loaded walk to score another run and the deficit was down to 4-2.

Melissa starting pitcher, Eloisa Maes, then got tough and struck out the final two Barbers Hill hitters to get the win.

Bryant pitched six innings and finished with six strikeouts. Nutter pitched an inning and was saddled with the loss.

Maes finished with seven strikeouts in getting the win on the mound for Melissa.

BH finished their season with a record of 35-4.