Lady Bearcat senior Ellie Smith and her classmates were not ready for softball to end.
Smith delivered two hits in three at bats, scored twice, drove in two, and stole three bases and the Lady Bearcats topped Paris 9-1 to assure the season extends to at least next week.
The Lady Bearcats (17-7) move on to face second seeded Lamar at 6:15 Thursday in the District 3A-4 tournament being hosted by Lavaca.
The win also guaranteed a spot in next week’s Class 3A Region 1 tournament in Lincoln with seeding determined by the remainder of the district tournament.
Three Paris errors staked the Lady Bearcats to a 2-0 lead in the second inning that was cut to 2-1 when Paris strung together three hits and a walk in the top of the third.
Smith led off the bottom of that inning with a single that became a run when the ball was misplayed in the outfield and it was 3-1.
In the fourth there were two down with Shelbie Myers and Farrah Stringer, also seniors, reached on a single and a walk, respectively.
Caroline Diffee singled home Myers and, after Addison Elmore took over on the bases for the catcher, Smith singled home both Stringer and Elmore more and it was 6-1.
Cam Parish (2-for-4) doubled and scored on a Peighton Montalvo single to extend the lead to 7-1 in the fifth and senior Roni Tillery helped remove any doubt in the sixth with a run scoring single. Tillery later scored on a single by Parish to make it 9-1.
Makinley Ensey finished it by retiring the Lady Eagles in order in the seventh, with the last two hitters set down on strikes, giving her nine strikeouts in the game. Ensey allowed just four hits.
Tori Nobles also had a two hit day for the Lady Bearcats.
As the two-seed in the tournament Lamar had a bye until Thursday. The Lady Warriors won the regular season meeting 3-0 in Lamar on April 1.
