The Calallen Lady Cats will make their first appearance at the state softball tournament in school history on Friday when they meet The Colony in the state semifinals.
The Cougars are 39-2 with a 27-game winning streak and making their second appearance at state in three seasons. They are ranked No. 32 nationally in all classifications.
Before the Lady Cats (34-5) took the field for practice this afternoon, Coach Teresa Lentz reminded her players they too are good enough to be at state.
“We don’t have anybody signed and nobody knows about us,” Lentz said. “They (The Colony) have no clue that you have worked your butt off .”
“They haven’t seen us, you understand? I’m telling you, and I would not say it if I didn’t mean it, you are doing things that a lot of college athletes are not able to do.”
Lentz is getting her team fired up…and for good reason.
She wants her players to know they can play with the Cougars.
Of course, we all know that talent has a lot to do with winning. But Lentz also wants to emphasize the correct mental approach has a lot to do with winning too.
“I want these girls not to go up there in the third inning and realize dang we can play with them but it’s already too late because it’s the third inning,” she said. “I need them to know that we can do it right now as soon as they step on that field.
“We only have one girl on our team that is signed to play college softball, the rest of my girls are not signed at all. We are playing teams that have multiple (players) going to play Division I softball programs for some of the best teams in the nation. We have something to prove and we can do it.”
The game will be played at 9 a.m. Friday at Red and Charlene McCombs Field on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin. Angleton and Forney meet in Friday’s second game with the winners set to meet for the state championship at 3 p.m. Saturday.
