Texas Aces High School Highlights

LEAGUE CITY — Holly Anderson bailed her team out twice in Dickinson’s 6-5 victory over Clear Creek at the Clear Creek ISD softball tournament on Friday.

The Dickinson sophomore delivered the game-winning hit — a two-run home run in the fourth inning. She also retired the side in the fifth in relief to preserve the victory — after Creek put runners at second and third on consecutive errors to start the inning.

“She did a good job,” Dickinson coach Missy Milutin said. “Everybody contributed. Her two-run homer is only a solo homer if we don’t get somebody on before. We had hitting at the top of the lineup, bottom of the lineup. Everybody did their part.”

Anderson’s homer capped a three-run fourth that doomed Creek, which suffered its first loss of the season.

To make things worse, the Wildcats (3-1) blew an early 4-0 lead, then couldn’t battle back after the Lady Gators scored six runs on nine hits in the third and fourth innings. Dickinson had 11 hits in the six-inning game.

“We haven’t had a game like this where we had to come back,” Creek coach Andrea Cash said. “The good thing is it’s a tournament. It’s preseason. We have a lot of young kids on the field with one senior. But no excuses. No excuses at all. We kind of fell apart, and we never regrouped.”

Creek jumped on Dickinson for two runs in the first inning. Princess Daniels, running for the catcher Laken Vichich, took second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on a throwing error. Jessie Bennett, running for the pitcher Morgan Luksa, then scored on Kara Rau’s single to left. Vichich and Luksa had reached on one-out walks.

The Wildcats added two more runs in the second — all with two outs. Ashley Bertot tripled in Amy Rossi, who had been hit by pitch. Luksa chased home Bertot with an infield hit.

Anderson got the Lady Gators going by doubling in Monique Little, who had singled, in the third. Anderson stole third and scored on an error. Chelsea Winters capped the inning with a two-out RBI single, driving in Ashley Ginn, who had singled.

The Wildcats went up 5-3 on Meagan Tamayo’s two-out, RBI single in the top of the fourth. Bertot, who had walked and stolen second, scored on the hit.

But Dickinson rallied to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Ashley Burkeen doubled, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Little’s hit. Then after Little stole second, Anderson’s smashed the ball over the left-field fence for the go-ahead blast.

“I didn’t really try to hit it (out),” said Anderson, who hit four homers last season. “But when I did, it was exciting.”

Anderson, who took the mound in relief, had to work out of a jam in the fifth to make the two-run shot stand up as the game-winning hit.

Luksa and Rau both reached on errors to start the inning. Bennett, running for Luksa, took third on the second error, and Rau stole second.

“I thought when we had no outs and (runners) at second and third, that was it,” Cash said. “We were coming back.”

But Anderson sandwiched two strikeouts around a pop up to end the threat.

“I just wanted to work out of it,” said Anderson, who also retired in the side in the sixth. “You can’t get discouraged, because then it’ll ruin it for your team.”

Winters, Dickinson’s starting pitcher, got the victory. She allowed five runs on four hits in four innings. Winters struck out three, walked four and hit a batter.

Luksa, Creek’s starter, gave up six runs on 11 hits. She struck out two and didn’t walk anyone.

“It was good mental toughness, because Creek’s a good team,” Milutin said. “I told them, ‘You’re not out of it. You’re never out of the game unless you’re mentally of it.’”