LONGVIEW, Texas - Frankston capitalized on having the last at-bat as it narrowly nudged out a 2-1 victory over McLeod in a Class 2A area softball playoff game on Wednesday.
Kaylee Davis had a walk-off single up the middle to score Brianna Looney in the seventh to seal the win for the Maidens in Game 1 of a best-of-three series at Spring Hill High School's Lady Panther Field.
Game 2 is set at Spring Hill High School on Friday at 5 p.m. with a Game 3, if needed, to follow.
"We came out flat," Lady Longhorns head coach Scott Venable said. "We just didn't make the defensive plays when we needed to make them, and we got beat. The intensity level was down. I bragged about the girls' intensity level last week, and they are just flat.
"I guess we like being in a tough spot. We didn't hit the ball well. The balls that we did hit hard, we hit them right at them. I told the girls that we can't depend on home runs to score runs. We've got to put the ball in play to win. We didn't put the ball in play tonight."
Trouble started in the seventh when Frankston's Looney hit a double to right center. The ball was misplayed by the fielder on an error, and Looney moved up to third. Davis sent a shot up the middle for the victorious run.
Kenslee Cross laced in a lead-off single to right center in the sixth frame for the Longhorns but was left stranded as the Maidens' pitcher retired the next three batters.
McLeod's Kenslee Cross took the hard-luck loss, tossed six innings, gave up two runs on eight hits, struck out six and hit two batters. The Longhorns totaled seven hits but only scored one run.
Kaitlyn Cross hammered a 207-foot home run over the left-center field wall to give the Longhorns a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. The Maidens responded with a run on two hits to knot the game at 1-all after the fourth.
Stormy Johnson laced in a single on a blooper to short left center with an out in the third frame for McLeod. Ella Lambeth's single fell in left center, and Johnson, who had waited to see if the ball would be caught, was thrown out at second. Lambeth was left stranded after a groundout.
Sibbie Comer had a single to right center with an out in the second frame for the Longhorns.
Johnson led off McLeod's first inning with a double to left field. She was left stranded after three consecutive outs.