Colleyville Heritage comes up short in Class 5A state semifinals to unbeaten Canyon

Colleyville Heritage battled with undefeated New Braunfels Canyon through five-and-a-half innings with neither team being able to push across a run.

But Canyon plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth then retired the Panthers in order in the seventh to preserve a 2-0 victory in a Class 5A state semifinal on Friday at McCombs Field.

Canyon (32-0) will take on the nation’s No. 1 team in Montgomery Lake Creek (43-1) for the 5A championship at 1 p.m. on Saturday, back at McCombs Field.

It was the first trip back to the state tournament for Colleyville Heritage (37-8) since the Panthers lost in the state semifinals in 1998.

Colleyville Heritage starter Lindsey McConnell ran into trouble in the sixth walking the first two batters of the inning. Riley Hester was down 0-2 before battling back for the base on balls and then Canyon center fielder Harley Vestal drew a four-pitch walk.

Markaylee Maldonado followed with hard grounder towards second, but second baseman Luna Flores was leaning the other way and the ball got through and past right fielder Karine Morrison and rolled all the way to the wall.

Hester and Vestal scored and Maldonado was thrown out at the plate, but the damage was done.

“I felt like the umpire squeezed us on a couple of those calls,” said Colleyville Heritage coach Allison Conaway. “It seemed like a couple of them could have gone our way and then when it didn’t the game was still in our hands to make the plays and get the outs. One thing different and maybe we’re still playing right now.”

Both pitchers dominated early with McConnell (24-7) and Canyon’s Haley Carmona (30-0) both locked in.

Leah Flores doubled to left for the Panthers to become the first base runner of the game with one out in the top of the fourth. Flores was sacrificed to third on a bunt by Leah Perales, but Graci Green flied out to left to end the threat.

That would be the only runner the Panthers would be able to get to third base against Carmona who finished allowing just two hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

“I feel disappointed because that is a beatable team, but they haven’t been beaten so they know how to win,” said Conaway. “I feel like if we were to go ahead and play a series I think we could take that team down, but that’s just the way the UIL playoffs go. You’ve got to show up here and you’ve got to perform and it puts a lot of pressure on your kids.

“That’s something that I think that we’ve got to work on as we move forward. Just handling those bigger moments a little bit.”

McConnell was just as good until the sixth. The junior allowed three hits with three walks, two in the sixth, and five strikeouts.

“It’s been a long year and a lot of hard work and trying to get this team to come together was tough,” said Conaway. “Trying to get all the different personalities and all the different years and all the different stuff you have to deal with with girls to gel.

“We put it on our schedule, but getting here was a grind daily for them and for us emotionally and physically. But we wouldn’t trade it. You don’t succeed without doing hard things, you don’t. We did hard things.

“I’ve known a lot of these kids for a long time and I love them to death and I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the Panther Fight Never Dies.”