Lady Oilers get two critical wins over league foes
March 12, 2024
Legendary coach Laneigh Clark retired in 2023 as the winningest 6A coach in Texas high school history and the second winningest coach of any class.
Clark passed the torch to longtime assistant Michele Hyden who has kept the winning tradition on track as the Lady Oilers are presently ranked No. 6 in the state with a 21-2 overall record and 4-0 in district.
In the past two league games, Pearland knocked off No. 3 state-ranked Alvin 6-5 and cross-town cousin Dawson 1-0 to remain atop the district standings at 4-0.
Hyden has already gotten some impressive signature wins this season outside of district action.
The Lady Oilers played in one of the toughest tournaments earlier at Barbers Hill which featured four teams that have won a state championship.
Pearland went 6-0 against those five-star opponents. The state champs the Lady Oilers knocked off included Alvin (2008 state titlist), The Woodlands (2011), Keller (2017) and Barbers Hill (2021).
The other quality win in Mont Belvieu came against Kingwood, which reached the state finals in 2013.
Against Alvin, the Lady Oilers struggled on offense for the first five innings while the Lady Yellowjackets scored two runs in the bottom of the third and one run in the fifth for a 3-0 lead.
Pearland finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth with two runs to cut the lead to 3-2 but the Lady Jackets answered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead to 5-2.
Pearland trailed 5-2 with two outs and was down to its last strike in the top of the seventh inning. Amazingly, the Lady Oilers rallied to win against the 16-2 Lady Yellowjackets.
Kailey Monsef led off the seventh with a single before Kaylee Schweitzer grounded into a 6-4 force play. Elaina Nyus then popped up for the second out, but Raenna Liscano managed to coax a walk after a 2-2 count.
Trinity Perry followed with a shot over third base for a single to score Schweitzer to make it 5-3. Payton Shugart then delivered with a two-run triple to the wall to knot the game at 5-5.
Following a walk to Laila Nobles, Kelsey Martin lined a single to left for what proved to be the game-winning RBI to make the score 6-5.
Pearland senior pitcher Carly Carpenter has accepted the role of No. 1 pitcher this year after standing in the shadow of All-State pitcher Abigail Gutierrez last season.
Carpenter pitched 4.1 innings and gave up seven hits, three runs, struck out five and walked three before turning over the pitching duties to junior Jordyn Shugart who picked up the win after allowing two runs, two and one walk on 2.2 innings of work in the pitching circle.
Leading hitters included Kelsey Martin (3-for-4, 3 RBIs, 3B), Payton Shugart (2-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, 3B), and Trinity Perry (1-for3, 1 run, 1 RBI).
Pearland 1 - Dawson 0
Dating to last year, Pearland has won 41 of its last 43 games and 62 of its last 66.
The Lady Oilers are presently 21-2 under veteran coach Michele Hyden who replaced Hall of Fame coach Laneigh Clark this year.
For 25 years, Hyden has been side-by-side with coach Clark as the co-head coach and the tradition continues for the Lady Oilers under Hyden's leadership.
Pearland is in the opening round of District 23-6A action and the Lady Oilers faced cross-town cousin Dawson last Friday.
As expected, the two teams were up to the challenge and were in a scoreless battle for the first four and a half innings until Pearland finally broke the tie with a run in the bottom of the fifth thanks to Kelsey Martin's single to plate Kailey Monsef, who reached base on an error, making the score 1-0 in favor of Pearland.
Carly Carpenter was the winning pitcher going the distance of seven innings while allowing five hits, no runs, 10 strikeouts and two walks.
The win improves the Lady Oilers to 21-2 overall and 4-0 in league play while Dawson drops to 12-5-1 overall and 2-1 in district.
