It didn’t take long for the defending state champion Lady Friars to make a resounding statement in this year’s softball playoffs. Bishop Lynch (22-4 overall) put away Beaumont Kelly in just four innings Friday with a 15-0 run-rule win to open its march toward back-to-back titles.

The Lady Friars put up 12 hits in the game, scoring seven runs in the second inning, four in the third and finishing off the contest with four more runs in the fourth. Beaumont Kelly was held hitless, with only one baserunner reaching on a defensive error.

Darrianne Hale tossed four hitless and scoreless innings, striking out six in a dominant performance in the pitcher’s circle. The team advances to the second round this week to face SA Incarnate Word in a one-game playoff. That matchup is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday (May 7) at Georgetown Eastview High School.

BL started slow, going down in order to start the contest, but picked it up in the second with hits by Hale, Paige Wrozek, a double from Franny Farlow and a triple by Elisa Ramirez. In the third, singles from Wrozek, Trystan Naille and Marcella Barrilleaux helped BL tack on four runs, widening the lead to 11-0. 

The fourth inning saw Kristen Linares, Ramirez, Wrozek, Jen Morgan and Maggie O’Conner slug hits, pushing across the deciding four runs. Wrozek finished with three hits and scored three runs to lead the way offensively. Morgan scored three times, Linares came home twice and Naille also scored twice.  

— By Cliff Gibson, SID