UIL Softball

Needville beats Gatesville 2-1 in Class 3A

Shauni Prihoda hit an inside the park home run to give Needville a 2-1 win over Gatesville in the UIL Class 3A state softball semifinals.

Prihoda's clutch hit complimented the solid pitching of Cally Falls (30-7), who struck out six and allowed one hit in Thursday night's game.

Needville (34-8) will face the winner of Friday's semifinal between Celina and Longview Spring Hill.

Needville took a 1-0 lead in the first after Becca Rademacher reached base on a bunt and scored on a pair of Gatesville errors. The Hornets (32-10) tied the score in the fifth when Kylie Nichols scored after a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt.

Emily Lieb (23-9) gave up two hits while striking out four and walking two in a complete game for Gatesville.

Hallettsville beats Early 3-0 in Class 2A

Cherise Klekar pitched a no-hitter to lead Hallettsville past Early 3-0 in a UIL Class 2A state semfinal.

Klekar (11-4) struck out three and limited the Longhorns (33-5) to 12 ground outs in Thursday's game.

Callie Herrington had two hits, scored a run and drove in another for Hallettsville (32-9). Herrington doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Emilie Jansky to give Hallettsville a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Misha North scored on Herrington's single in the fifth. The Brahmas' other run came in the sixth on a bases loaded ground out by Kellan Werner.

Hallettsville will face Brock in the Class 2A finals Saturday.

Brock defeats Elysian Fields 1-0 in Class 2A

Linsey Hays allowed just four hits and Dana Jones got a key infield hit to help Brock defeat Elysian Fields 1-0 in a UIL Class 2A semifinal.

The Lady Eagles (30-8) committed one error but two double plays and a pair of catcher pickoff plays left Hays (23-4) facing just 22 batters in the seven-inning victory Thursday.

The game was scoreless until Jones singled in Miranda Ingram with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Ingram had doubled to reach base and went to third on Dayla Jones' bunt.

Blair Hickey, who pitched all 31 Yellowjackets victories, allowed seven hits and struck out four in the loss for Elysian Fields (31-8).

Forsan beats Iola in 1A semis

Amanda Longorio struck out 10 batters and got three hits at the plate to lead to lead Forsan past Iola 2-1 in UIL Class 1A semifinal action.

Longorio, who gave up three hits Thursday, allowed an unearned first inning run then blanked the Bulldogs over the next six innings. Forsan (25-9) had five hits and two runs in the final two innings to upset top-ranked Iola (28-5).

Forsan tied the game in the top of the sixth inning when Kelsey Jones reached first on a fielder's choice after Shelby Jones had singled to open the inning. DAmberley Averette singled sending Kelsey Jones to third where she scored on a hit by Haylie Burleson.

The Buffaloes scored the winning run in the seventh inning when Sandi Golleher reached on an error, advanced on a single by DAmberley Averette and scored on an RBI single by Shelby Jones.

Iola centerfielder Erin Compian led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk and stole second. The throw deflected off the centerfielders glove as she raced in to cover second base. The deflected ball rolled into the outfield as Compian continued around and scored.

Alto beats Lindsay in 1A semis

Heaven Liles pitched a complete game to lead Alto to a 3-2 win over Lindsay in UIL Class 1A state softball semifinal action.

Liles struck out seven, allowed four hits and walked two in Thursday's win.

Alto (25-8-2) scored in the first inning when Lauren Watson tripled to the wall with one out and scored on a ground out by Haley Parker. The Yellowjackets scored twice in the fifth inning when Liles doubled to right and was replaced by courtesy runner Katina Sturns. Sturns took both third and home as she raced home on one wild pitch.

Alto's winning run came when Brianna Williamson tripled and scored on a single by Abbey Scott to round out the Yellowjackets' scoring. Scott and Williamson led Alto with two hits each.

Lindsay (24-9-2) scored in the sixth inning when Alyx Ethington singled and scored on a double by Lucinda Krahl and added a run in the seventh when Rose Hermes tripled and scored on a ground out by Bethani Eberhart.