Cougars slide into Regionals

File photo by Rachel Anne Seymour

The Woodland Cougars started off slow, but eventually hit their way into the regional tournament after beating both Barnsdall and Rejoice Christian for the District Champiopnship Title last week.

“When we started hitting the ball, we hit the ball well. We got to start the game faster,” Head Coach Brian Edwards said about putting the ball in play mid-game. “I want to start out in the first inning.”

During Woodland’s first game Wednesday, they sat tied with Barnsdall, 3-3, in the sixth inning, before a solid three-run home run for Cougar Brayden Tucker put them ahead of the Panthers 6-3 by the end of the sixth. Unable to come back, Banrsdall fell in their second game of the tournament, after losing to Rejoice Christian earlier that day, ending their season (see Page X for more on the Barnsdall game).

Woodland went on to face Rejoice Christian Wednesday. They were down 3-0 in the second inning with two runners on, one at first and one at second when Cougar Patrick Bartlett stepped up to the plate. He slammed a three-run home run, Woodland’s second of the day, to tie up the game. From there the Cougars just kept running, until they ran Rejoice into the ground, 14-4.

It wasn’t enough for Woodland to claim the title yet. They would have to play Rejoice against Thursday. Although they finally pulled out a victory, the 7-6 game, was a little closer than Edwards would have liked.

“It wasn’t the best game we played,” he said. In the end, a win is a win, and this win took the Cougars a little farther in their season. Their eyes are now on regionals, which is in Glencoe. “Now we can start making improvements needed for Regionals,” Edwards said.

Woodland plays Pioneer-Pleasant Vale at 1 p.m. Thursday.

By Rachel Anne Seymour

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 5:15 am. It is filed under Fairfax, Rachel Anne Seymour, Sports, Woodland Cougars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.