AUSTIN – Ask Canyon head softball coach Kevin Randle if he expected to end the 2019 season at the state tournament, and he'd probably say no.
Ending the Cougarettes surprising playoff run in the state semifinals doesn't make Friday's 11-1 loss to Klein Collins less disappointing. Still, Randle leaves Red & Charlene McCombs Field proud.
"I'm extremely proud of these kids. All of them, from the freshmen to the seniors, I'm extremely proud," Randle said. "We knew what we had in the older kids, but the underclassmen had to prove themselves. They proved to be worthy over and over again."
Klein Collins led the game wire to wire, breaking the ice with a three run frame in the first inning. The Tigers never got the ball out of the infield and were the benefactors of two favorable calls that allowed Mia Cantu to score. Canyon, which should have gotten out of the inning unscathed, could not recover.
"It was a big situation and we didn't quite make the plays that we needed to make," Randle said.
"It was very tough," said senior pitcher Aliyah Pritchett. "We definitely didn't have that much help from the umpires, but we still should have got out of it."
Pritchett, a Baylor signee, ends her final season in a Canyon uniform with a 25-2 record. As for what she'll remember most about her time with the Cougarettes:
"The coaches. They definitely taught me a lot and playing for them helped a lot," Pritchett said.
Canyon ends the 2019 season with a record of 36-8.