As their district season comes to a close, the Lady Tigers focus their efforts at preparing for a highly competitive first round of playoffs. Coming up short in the game against Hallsville, the Lady Tigers needed a win against Longview in order to keep their season alive. In the end, the Lady Tigers came out of Tuesday night’s game with a 6-3 win, and a secured spot in the UIL playoffs.

The Lady Tigers will play the Huntsville Lady Hornets with the first game of the three-game series being Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., and the second and third games will be Friday at 6 p.m. All games will be played at Whitehouse High School in Whitehouse, Texas.

“We just have to compete,” junior catcher Lauren Allred said. “Hallsville was a tough team. They had hot bats and a solid defense, but it showed us where our issues were in the lineup.”

The team being composed of mainly upperclassmen has given the younger girls an opportunity to learn from girls who were in their position. Many of the girls from this year’s varsity team have been to playoffs before, and are using their knowledge to help lead the team to victory.

“The pressure of playoffs is just a whole different environment, with new teams we may not have faced yet,” junior pitcher Lizzie Smith said. “ We really need to come together with the younger girls and work hard with them and ourselves to prepare.”

Although the team struggled with a few big losses early in the season, they are proving themselves worthy of their playoff spot.

“Reaching for the last spot in playoffs this close to the end will be tough,” junior outfielder Alex Reed said. “ I feel like as a team we will be loud, hype, and very encouraging to our teammates. We are excited and we’ve worked hard to earn that spot.”

Having a few things left to work on, the girls plan to use their strengths to guide them through the decision making side of games. 

“We have good bats and a strong defense,” Allred said. “We have a lot of talent among the team in many different aspects, but I believe we need to work on overall staying into the game and finishing it all the way through the last out.”

With the pressure of winning to advance looming over their heads, the team must remember to be patient and always play their hardest until the final out.

“The team needs to remember that the game isn’t over until the umpire calls it,” Allred said. “It’s all about the thought process and once we buy into the idea of one pitch so what, then I believe we will be tough.”