The Champion softball team needed a break and they got it when facing No. 1 stateranked Leander in the first round of the 5A playoffs last week in Marble Falls.
Leander pitcher and University of Oklahoma signee SJ Guerin was out of the game with a finger injury and the Chargers took advantage and went on to defeat the Lions, 9-8, in a one-game playoff.
Champion improves to 15-9-1 overall and faces McCollum in the second round. (See schedule).
Guerin was closing in on 1,000 strikeouts for her career, has won 34 games the last two years and has an ERA of 0.90, but without her in the lineup, the Chargers were able to knock out 11 hits and get the win.
Champion never trailed, built a big lead and then held on at the end against the No. 21 ranked team in the nation according to MaxPreps.
The Chargers scored 2 in the second, but the Lions tied it at 2-2 with single runs in the second and third frames.
Champion built a big lead with 5 runs in the fourth thanks to doubles from Ashley Ottmers and Ava Trevino and added 2 more in the fifth for the 9-2 advantage.
Leander plated a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 9-3 and then made a strong push in the bottom of the seventh.
The Lions scored 5 runs in the seventh, 4 of them with two outs but the Chargers recorded the last out with a fly ball to center to end the game.
Ottmers doubled, hit 2 singles, drove in 4 runs and scored once and Trevino added 2 singles to her double and scored a run.
Carmen Vela singled; Gabi Vela had an RBI; Lily Ritchie singled, scored and drove in a run; Madison Hall singled and scored twice; Kassidy Kureska hit 2 singles, scored a run and picked up an RBI; while Riley Murrish, Finley Shanley and Dakota Salazar all scored once.
Carmen Vela picked up the win on 116 pitches and she gave up 11 hits, only 1 earned run, fanned 3 and walked 1.
NOTES: Champion had only won a firstround playoff series twice in its history before last week. In 2014 they beat Brackenridge and in 2015 they defeated Harlandale. In both years, they were knocked out in the next round so a win this week gives them the deepest run by a Charger softball team in the playoffs.
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