Bullard's Kamyn Honzell  

FORNEY — Bullard is headed back to the UIL State Softball Tournament for the second straight year.

Sophomore Anistyn Foster struck out eight batters, including the final two, and tossed her second straight shutout as Bullard took a 2-0 win over Melissa in Game 3 of the Class 4A Region II final series Saturday at the Rabbit Hole.

“It just feels amazing,” Bullard head softball coach Julie Murry said. “I feel like these kids have worked really hard. To see it come to fruition, it’s beautiful and amazing.”

Rachel Wells, who wasn’t in the starting lineup on Saturday but entered in the No. 9 spot in the batting order after arriving to the field in the second inning, led off the top of the seventh with a single for Melissa. Emily Johnson hit into a fielder’s choice for the first out. After Autumn Bell was struck out by Foster, Johnson moved her way to third base. Foster then struck out Caigan Crabtree on a full count to end the series and punch the Lady Panthers ticket to state.

“I was just so grateful,” senior third baseman Addison Hooker said. “Just the fact that we could go to state again is amazing.”

Berlyn Grossman led off the bottom of the first with a single and scored on a wild pitch with one out and Hooker at the plate.

“Turns out that was a fantastic thing,” Grossman said. “We really preach scoring early, and it really proved to be useful today.”

Hadi Fults then delivered an RBI double with two outs to give the Lady Panthers a 2-0 lead.

And that was all the Lady Panthers needed as Foster and the defense did the rest.

“That’s all she wrote,” Murry said. “We worked really hard for those two runs. We tried lots of things to get some more runs across. Our plan was to score early and often, but we will just take score early I guess in this situation.

“And Anistyn just continued to compete for us and keep us in it. I’m so proud.”

Melissa got a leadoff single by Bryton Wright in the second, but could never get the runner past first after two fielder’s choice outs.

Singles by Crabtree and Kindred Johnson gave the Lady Cardinals runners on first and third with two outs in the fourth, but Foster struck out Paisley Needham to end the threat.

After two quick outs in the fifth, Melissa loaded the bases with a hit by pitch, a single by Emily Johnson and a walk from Bell. Foster got Crabtree to fly out to Foster in center to keep the shutout intact.

Melissa got a leadoff double by Wright in the sixth, and Needham walked to give the Lady Cardinals runners on first and third again, but another Foster strikeout and a grounder to Kamyn Honzell once again did the trick.

Bullard got at least one baserunner on in every inning.

Grossman had two hits for Bullard.

Wright and Emily Johnson each had two hits for Melissa (29-7).

Bullard bounced back from a 5-4 loss in the series opener on Wednesday with a 5-0 win on Thursday to force Saturday’s third game.

“I think it just shows the resilience of our kids, the toughness they have, the belief they have in our community and their parents have in them,” Murry said. “This is a program win for the seniors that have come before this, for this community, for a lot of people.”

Bullard (40-3) will open the state tournament on Thursday at 4 p.m. against Sweeny at Red & Charline McCombs Field in Austin.