It was a simple disagreement over whether a pitch hit a batter or the bat, but Lake Highlands softball coach Kelly Baker found herself arguing an umpire’s call with her sister during a game Feb. 25.
That’s what happens when your sister coaches a district rival.
“We’re both yelling at the umpire at the same time,” Kelly said. “It was a pretty intense moment.
“Of course, our whole family was here from Oklahoma, and they were chuckling in the stands.”
Kelly got the last laugh that game as Lake Highlands won, 13-0, against Richardson Berkner and its first-year head coach, Jayme Baker. “It felt good that we won ... and run-ruled her,” Kelly said.
The sisters will face off for the second time in their coaching careers at 7 p.m. Friday as Lake Highlands (12-4, 5-1) hosts Berkner (10-7, 5-1) in a key District 9-5A game. The teams are tied with Richardson Pearce for the district lead, even though the sisters utilize opposite coaching strategies.
“She relies on hitting, and she doesn’t run the bases very much,” Jayme said. “I run the bases constantly. We’re very aggressive. We play the short game and manufacture runs.”
The sisters grew up in Oklahoma City but were far enough apart in age — Kelly is now 35, and Jayme is 29 — that they were never teammates in high school. However, when Jayme played at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas, Kelly was her head coach.
“She knew what she was getting into,” Kelly said. “I was kind of overaggressive I guess would be the word, trying to prove myself. But it was really fun. We have lots of fond memories. She actually lived in my house then too.”
Jayme also played at Southeastern Oklahoma State when Kelly was a graduate assistant there. The two are still inseparable — at least by phone.
“We talk every day,” Jayme said. “We call each other after practice or we call each other at lunch.”
Flower Mound on quite a roll
Flower Mound has eight players who have signed or commited to play softball in college, including players pledged to LSU, Texas Tech and Wichita State. But the defending District 5-5A champion was 1-5 after losing to McKinney Boyd on Feb. 20.
“When we started the year, there were a lot of high expectations,” coach Mark Larriba said. “Then our kids went 1-5, and it was a wake-up call.”
Since then, Flower Mound is 17-0-1. On Wednesday, Flower Mound trailed by two runs going to the bottom of the fourth, but it hit four home runs in the game and beat Hebron, 12-3, to gain sole possession of first place in 5-5A.
Flower Mound is ranked third in the state in Class 5A, and last week it beat defending state champion Lewisville, 2-1, as West Texas A&M signee Allie Smith hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth.
Entering the week, Smith was hitting .557 and led Flower Mound in home runs (four) and RBIs (24). Freshman Mikayla Moser, who joined the team after basketball season, was hitting .529 and had 20 RBIs in only 34 at-bats.
Kellie Wanhanen, last year’s district champion in the triple jump, was hitting .400 and led the team with 22 runs scored. Junior pitcher Annelise Oswalt, who has committed to Texas Tech, was 9-2 and was hitting .472.
Fossil Ridge rises to the top
In a district that includes nationally ranked Southlake Carroll, it is Keller Fossil Ridge (16-5, 5-0) that leads 4-5A in baseball. Fossil Ridge will host Carroll, the state’s top-ranked 5A team, at 7 p.m. Friday.
Christian Hollie is hitting .403 and has scored a team-leading 24 runs for an offense that averages 6.4 runs per game. Luis Rivas is hitting .375 with a team-best 21 RBIs. Austin Ingraham is hitting .362 and is tied with leadoff batter Kenniel Rivera (.343) for second on the team in runs scored with 17.
Dylan Neuse, the younger brother of Rangers draft pick and Oklahoma signee Sheldon Neuse, is starting at third base for Fossil Ridge as a freshman. Dylan has homered in each of the last two games.
On the mound, Erik Key and Derek Dallas are both 3-0. Key has a 0.93 ERA, and Dallas has struck out 43 in 31 innings.
