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Softball state tournament preview: Can Plano East and Forney advance to finals?

UIL SOFTBALL STATE TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

CLASS 5A SEMIFINAL

Plano East vs. Klein Collins

3 p.m. Friday (KPYK-AM 1570)

Previous state tournament appearances: Plano East two (1995 5A runner-up, 2009 5A semifinalist), Klein Collins none

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Plano East (35-3): When the playoffs started, Plano East was the last of six Texas 5A teams in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association national rankings. Plano East, now ranked 12th nationally, was the only one of those six to make it to the state tournament. ... ... Plano East is trying to become the first Dallas-area 5A team to win a softball state title since Garland in 2007. ... Texas signee Holly Kern (33-3, 2.06 ERA) is an all-state pitcher, but she's also hitting .366 and leads Plano East with 10 home runs and 46 RBIs. Kern hit a three-run homer and had a no-hitter for 52/3 innings in a 5-4 win over Hebron in the regional final that extended Plano East's winning streak to nine. ... K.K. Stevens and Jacque Anthony, who follow Kern in the batting order, have combined for 13 home runs and 82 RBIs. Anthony leads Plano East with a .440 batting average ... The top two hitters in the lineup, Chandler Cink and Texas signee Rachel Scott, have combined to score 83 runs.

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Klein Collins (30-4): The District 13-4A champion beat defending 5A state champion The Woodlands, 8-1, in a regional final to extend its winning streak to nine. ... Senior pitcher Taylor Grissom is 18-1 with a 1.29 ERA, and she has allowed three runs (one earned) in 251/3 innings in the last five playoff games. ... Sam Houston State signee Angelica Gonzales and catcher Jessica Borrego have played through wrist injuries and had big seasons. Gonzales is hitting .421 with a team-leading five home runs. Borrego is batting .458 and has scored a team-best 45 runs. ... Laura Lopez is hitting .523 with a team-leading 42 RBIs, and freshmen Rylie Spell (.408, four homers, 35 RBIs) and Demi Janak (.310, 41 runs) have also made key contributions. ... This is the first time to play at state for Klein Collins players, but coach Rosie Rhodes coached Angleton to a state championship in 1994.

CLASS 4A SEMIFINAL

Forney vs. Montgomery

9 a.m. Friday

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Previous state tournament appearances: Forney two (1999 3A semifinalist, 2011 4A runner-up), Montgomery none

Forney (32-7-2): The District 15-4A runner-up has a .353 team batting average and averages 7.3 runs per game. Brooke McCarroll is the headliner offensively with 15 home runs and 50 RBIs, but she has a lot of help. Leadoff hitter Micah Fitzgerald is batting .426 with 33 runs. Taylor Penn is hitting .389, and she had a game-winning two-run double in Game 1 of the regional final series against Ennis and scored the winning run in Game 3. Laura Mabary and Jasmine Lusk are hitting .377 and .375, respectively. ... Taylor LeFlore homered and had four RBIs in two games at state last year. ... Senior Danielle Najera and sophomore Allison Brown both pitched against Ennis, but it was Najera who held the state's top-ranked 4A team to three hits in a 2-1 win in Game 3. Coach Eric Montgomery said he will likely start Najera on Friday.

Montgomery (33-6): The District 17-4A co-champion beat Little Cypress-Mauriceville, 5-4, in eight innings in Game 3 of its regional final series to make it to state. Senior Katelyn Sanders (21-4) earned the win in that game but has shared pitching duties with junior Morgan Skinner (12-2). ... Catcher Cali Lanphear was an all-state selection last year and has signed with Texas A&M. She homered twice in the regional final. Shortstop Devon Tunning, who has committed to Texas, also homered in the series. ... Montgomery has averaged 8.8 runs per game in the playoffs. ... Montgomery blew a 7-0 lead and lost, 11-10, to Santa Fe in Game 3 of the regional final last season. Santa Fe went on to beat Forney, 10-3, in the 4A state championship game.

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Plano East wins have some controversy

Plano East beat District 8-5A rivals Flower Mound and Hebron by one run each en route to its first state tournament berth since 2009. But both one-game playoffs had close calls at the plate -- one of which would have ended Plano East's season if it had gone the other way.

In Plano East's 3-2, eight-inning win over Flower Mound in a Class 5A Region I quarterfinal, Flower Mound thought it had won when the umpire signaled safe as Kelly Powell slid toward home and Plano East catcher K.K. Stevens tried to apply the tag in the bottom of the seventh in a 2-2 game. But as Powell and Flower Mound players celebrated, Plano East coach Karen Kalhoefer noticed that the umpire hadn't walked off and was still looking at the plate -- as if waiting for Powell to touch home or for Stevens to make a tag -- so Kalhoefer told Stevens to tag Powell on an appeal play.

The umpire then called Powell out, ruling she had never touched the plate, and the game went to extra innings. The rule says that if a runner misses home plate and the catcher misses the tag, the umpire should hesitate, then if no tag is made, declare the runner safe. If an appeal play happens, then the umpire rules on that.

WFAA (Channel 8) had video of the play and said in its report that it thought the replay showed Powell touched the plate.

"In the split second, I thought she didn't touch the plate," Kalhoefer said. "But you slow it down, and it shows that she may have swiped the plate. But it happened so fast. I really did not see her touch the plate or I would never have acted the way that I acted. I thought her hand was above the plate, and we have pictures that show that."

In Friday's one-game 5A Region I final, Hebron's Kylie Johnson tried to score what would have been the tying run in the sixth inning but was called out on a close play at the plate. Hebron argued, but the call stood and Plano East hung on to win, 5-4.

"K.K. blocked the plate," Kalhoefer said. [Johnson] may have crossed it afterward, but K.K. tagged her. They saw the tag was high, but she wasn't even near the plate. K.K. tagged her, and then she touched the plate.

"It was bam-bam as well. It's just one of those things that can happen so fast. We're fortunate that the calls have gone our way."

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It's tough to pitch around Forney's star

Forney junior shortstop Brooke McCarroll has hit 15 home runs -- tied for the most by an area player this season. She also hit 15 homers last year.

McCarroll, who bats fifth in the order, is hitting .385 with 50 RBIs in 41 games, and 55 percent of her hits have gone for extra bases. She homered twice Friday in Game 2 of the Class 4A Region II final series against Ennis, and she has five home runs and 15 RBIs in 10 playoff games.

But McCarroll has been walked only 16 times. One of those came Saturday, when McCarroll was walked intentionally by Ennis to load the bases with no outs and a 1-1 score in the top of the seventh in Game 3 of the regional final.

"Unitl this series, we really hadn't had anybody pitch around her much," Forney coach Eric Montgomery said. "If you want to pitch around her, you're going to face Krista Williams, and Krista Williams has been clutch."

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On Saturday, Williams followed the walk to McCarroll by hitting a sacrifice fly that drove in the winning run in Forney's 2-1 victory. Williams also had a walk-off hit to beat Hallsville in a one-game playoff in the second round, and she is hitting .355 for the season.

And hitting behind Williams is Laura Mabary. She is hitting .412 in the playoffs.