The Henderson Lady Lions competed in the Class 3A State Softball Tournament in 2012 in Austin. Team members include: Karly Free, Taylor White, Kenzy Henry, Taylor Sledge, Kami McCaw, Jaci Hunt, Jessica Thomas, Tiarra Davis, Natalie McQuiston, Allison Waggoner, Jenna Toon, Jennifer Armstrong, Shelby Turner, Tessa Thomas, manager Beth Davis, manager Cassidy Hodges, trainer Matthew Dyson, assistant coach Jay Brown, assistant coach Kenneth Malone, assistant coach Lamoun Walton and head coach Julie Murry. (Courtesy Photo | Henderson ISD)

There will be a strong East Texas presence at the UIL Softball State Tournament this week.

Five teams located in the eastern part of the Lone Star State will take over the state capital — from Hallsville to Bullard to Emory Rains to Diboll and even down to Pineland West Sabine.

Rains and West Sabine both played in the most recent state tournament in 2019. Bullard and Diboll will be in the event for the first time. Hallsville is in the state tournament for the third time and first since 2015.

It will also be my third time to cover the event and first since 2015 when I was there to cover that Hallsville team.

To get to the state tournament in 2015, Hallsville had to defeat Lucas Lovejoy in the regional finals. Flip the calendar forward six years, and the Ladycats once again defeated Lovejoy to return to Austin.

Current Hallsville head coach Kayla Whatley was an assistant coach on that team in 2015. Sara Hendrix is an assistant for the Ladycats now and was also on the 2015 staff.

I’ll never forget covering that Hallsville team in the playoffs with weather causing multiple delays and venue changes throughout as the number of turf fields available were a lot fewer than they are now.

My other trip to the state softball tournament was in 2011 when I was in Nacogdoches covering Central Heights.

In the regional semifinals that year, Central Heights won a three-game series with Grand Saline with every game finishing by a score of 2-1. I remember the Grand Saline coach having to leave right after his team forced a Game 3 with a Game 2 victory to go to a wedding.

Grand Saline was the site of Bullard’s state-clinching performance on Saturday.

In the regional finals, Central Heights defeated Mineola to qualify for the state tournament.

My first game at the state softball tournament was one I’ll always remember. Despite trailing 2-0 after the first two innings, Central Heights scored 17 runs during the next three innings to take a 17-3 win and advance to the title game, where it lost to Danbury.

That type of offensive performance late in the postseason was one I hadn’t seen until 10 years late when Bullard had 20 hits to score a 12-4 win over Aubrey on Saturday in Game 3 of the Class 4A Region II finals.

Back to that Mineola team that fell in the regional finals in 2011. The next two years, Mineola advanced to the state tournament. The second baseman on those Mineola teams was Marisa Ledkins, who is now the assistant softball coach at Bullard.

In Ledkins’ senior season, Mineola advanced to the Class 3A title game against Lufkin Hudson, dropping a 12-9 decision.

Hudson, which is the alma mater of yours truly, was a repeat state champion. The Lady Hornets won 8-4 in the 2012 title game against Henderson, whose head coach was Julie Murry, who is now the head coach of the Bullard Lady Panthers.

Bullard’s opponent in the Class 4A state semifinals will be Liberty, which advanced to state one other time in 2018 and finished as the Class 4A champion. Also in the 4A field in 2018 was Rains, which lost to Vernon, 6-2 in 11 innings, in the semifinals that year.

Rains then dropped down to Class 3A the next year and finished 34-1, winning the state title. Rains enters with a 37-1 mark this year.

In the other 3A semifinal and a possible state final opponent for Rains is Diboll, which is coached by Hayland Hardy.

Hardy was a standout baseball player for Lufkin High School in the late 1980s and was named the District 13-5A MVP in 1988. He went on to play at Stephen F. Austin, where he set the single-season home run record with 19 long balls, which was eventually broken in 2007.

Hardy had a professional baseball stint with the Milwaukee Brewers organization. After that, he was an assistant coach at Central High School and then served as an assistant coach at Angelina College.

But in 1997, everything changed. He was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis (a progressive, terminal lung disease), and a doctor in Dallas told him he would have just six more months to live.

After spending a year on hospice, Hardy wanted to get back to work, back around baseball, so he took a job as head baseball coach at Chapel Hill. He then went to Mineola and then to Quitman, where he spent more than 11 years as the head coach.

Hardy then took over the Harleton softball program when Justin Kniffen left to take over at Tyler Legacy.

Hardy then returned back to Angelina County to become the head softball coach at Diboll in 2019.

In November 2020, Hardy tested positive for COVID-19. Like he had many times before, Hardy battled back and has led the Ladyjacks to a 33-5 record and their first trip to the state tournament.

I’m looking forward to being at Red and Charline McCombs Field beginning Wednesday to watch these East Texas teams compete.

And if I’ve learned anything from covering East Texas softball for the past 20 years, members of surrounding communities will be there to support, as long as they’re not facing each other.

Call it an East Texas softball connection.

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UIL Softball State Tournament

Red and Charline McCombs Field, The University of Texas at Austin

Tuesday, June 1

Class 1A Semifinals

Dodd City (15-3) vs. Bloomburg (12-5), 10 a.m.

Gail Borden County (14-3) vs. D’Hanis (17-7-1), 1 p.m.

Class 2A Semifinals

Pineland West Sabine (38-0) vs. Crawford (31-6), 4 p.m.

Weimar (40-1) vs. Stamford (30-5), 7 p.m.

Wednesday, June 2

Class 3A Semifinals

Emory Rains (37-1) vs. Bishop (31-3-2), 10 a.m.

Holliday (38-2) vs. Diboll (33-5), noon

Class 1A

Final, 4 p.m.

Class 2A

Final, 7 p.m.

Thursday, June 3

Class 3A

Final, 1 p.m.

4A Semifinals

Iowa Park (39-1) vs. Corpus Christi Calallen (32-8), 4 p.m.

Bullard (32-5) vs. Liberty (31-7), 7 p.m.

Friday, June 4

5A Semifinals

Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill (40-2) vs. Hallsville (27-6-1), 10 a.m.

Georgetown (27-5-1) vs. Aledo (28-7), 1 p.m.

6A Semifinals

4 p.m.: Converse Judson (34-2) vs. Rockwall (31-7)

7 p.m.: Flower Mound (36-3-1) vs. Deer Park (41-8)

Saturday, June 5

Class 4A, 5A, 6A Finals

Class 4A Final, 1 p.m.

Class 5A Final, 4 p.m.

Class 6A Final, 7 p.m.