Softball Playoffs: Henderson, Overton and Tatum's seasons end

In game two, Ellis pitched seven innings where she gave up nine hits and struck out eight. Charli Bird went 3-for-4 at the plate, hitting one double and had two RBI. Ta’Niyah Vanzandt went 2-for-4 and hit a triple.

The Lady Lions wrapped up their season with a 15-12-1 record overall.

“I am always so proud of the girls in everything they’ve done,” said coach Dariann Resendez. “When you look at the team, we have a really athletic senior class and we have a lot of young people in key positions. With those 2 mixing together, you just hope that it all works out. We had an intense and successful pre-season as we were beating teams that beat us last year but we just dealt with an array of small issues amidst the meat of our season. The girls really challenged themselves personally and individually this season. Sometimes those cannot be seen by wins and losses and that’s okay! Inside each game, the girls fixed a number of issues every single time and for that, I am always grateful! It’s every coach’s dream to be around athletes that are internally always improving!”

Tatum (3A-16): The Lady Eagles lost 2-7 to the Hughes Springs in their Friday night Bi-District playoff game. They fell behind early to the Lady Mustangs by three runs, rallied to almost catch up with two runs, and fell behind again after the Lady Mustangs tallied three runs in the fourth.

Noa Cart pitched six innings, allowing 11 hits and striking out two. The Lady Eagles had four hits led by Yahnya Acevedo who went 2-for-4 at the plate.

Overton (2A-19): The Lady Mustangs’ season came to an end with 4-16 and 6-16 Bi-District losses to the Cross Roads Lady Cats on Friday and Saturday.

Overton started strong in game one, taking a 3-1 lead until Cross Roads tied it up in the top of the third. Cross Roads pulled away for good with 11 runs in the fifth inning to end the game.

Brylie Smith pitched five innings, allowing ten hits and walking four.

Chelsea Jordan and Alex Brown both hit doubles. Brown had two RBI and Montana Tarkington and Jordan had one RBI each.

Smith pitched five and a third innings in game two, allowing 14 hits, walking six and striking out five.

The Lady Mustangs had six hits including a double by Kayla Nobles and a solo home run by Perkins. Mayfield, Smith, Tarkington and Jordan all hit a single.

Overton ended its 2023 season with an 18-17 record overall. Head coach Marty Mayfield said they made tremendous strides from start to finish, overcoming setbacks and having some young players stepping up to play important roles.

“The good thing about setbacks is that you have to face the unknown head on and do the best you can,” said Mayfield. “Our girls were very upset losing to Cross Roads in the first round...We feel like we are at a place where don’t just want to make the playoffs, we want to go deep into the playoffs. I can see the growth we made this year and we truly believe we are going in a direction to make that a reality in the coming years.”

Overton is losing some talented seniors with Smith, Tarkington, Brown and Ne’Kila Weir graduating. “Brown has been an All District Outfielder for three years. Weir went down this year with medical issues and that was a huge blow to both offense and defense,” explained Mayfield. “We will return six starters from a playoff team next year but the big question is: who will step up and pitch to replace Brylie Smith? Time to get back to work—it never stops.”