By LANCE FLEMING
Abilene ISD Communications

Abilene High’s baseball and softball teams swept their opponents last week and continue their seasons deep into the playoffs this weekend, with a key series set to be played Thursday-Saturday at McMurry University’s Walt Driggers Field.

Here’s a roundup of what happened in AISD Athletics last week and what is ahead this week for local student-athletes:

BASEBALL
The Abilene Eagles (21-13-1) swept their area-round series against El Paso Ysleta last weekend, the second straight season AHS has knocked the Indians out of the Class 5A playoffs. AHS won the first game last Friday, 5-1, and then exploded Saturday for a 12-1 win to clinch the series.

AHS scored three runs in the third inning Friday to break a scoreless tie, scoring on back-to-back RBI triples from Brady Bennett and Beckham Paul, and scoring again on Trey Simpson’s sacrifice fly. In Saturday’s 12-1 win, Bennett struck out eight Ysleta hitters and pitched six innings to pick up the win. He also added a two-run double, and Paul had a three-run double in the rout.

The Eagles will take on crosstown and District 4-5A rival Wylie this weekend at McMurry’s Walt Driggers Field. The Bulldogs – ranked No. 5 in Class 5A by MaxPreps – are 28-5 on the year after a two-game series sweep of Canutillo last weekend. Abilene High and Wylie played three close games during the regular season with the Bulldogs winning by the scores of 12-10 and 6-2 and AHS winning at Wylie, 3-2, on April 9.

Game 1 of the series will be played Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by Game 2 on Friday at 7 p.m. If a third game is necessary, it will be played Saturday at 2 p.m. All three games are scheduled to air live on AISD Live.

SOFTBALL
The Lady Eagles wasted no time sweeping crosstown rival Wylie out of the state playoffs last weekend with a quick two-game series victory at Abilene Christian University’s Wells Field. Abilene High won the first game Friday, 7-0, and rebounded early Saturday with a 6-0 win in Game 2 to sweep the regional quarterfinal series from the Lady Bulldogs.

In the two games, starting pitcher Diana Silva threw a combined 10 innings, allowed four hits, and struck out three batters. In the Game win 1 that set the tone for the series, Kinzley Cantu went 1 for 3 with a 2-run double, and Marissa Cardenas was 2 for 3 with two RBI.

AHS (25-13-1) will take on Burleson Centennial (30-7) this weekend in the Class 5A Region I semifinals in a three-game series at the Tarleton Softball Complex on the Tarleton State University campus in Stephenville. The series’ first game is set for 7 p.m. Friday with Game 2 starting at 12 p.m. Saturday. If a third game is necessary, it will start 30 minutes after the end of Game 2. All three games are scheduled to air live on AISD Live.

TENNIS
The Abilene High School girls’ doubles team of Abby Bran and Allie Dunn and its boys’ No. 1 singles player, Noah Morris all saw their spring seasons come to an end last weekend at the Region I-5A championship tournament at the McLeod Tennis Center on the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock. The top two finishers in boys and girls singles and doubles and mixed doubles will play in the Class 5A state tournament, set for May 16-17 at the Annemarie Tennis Center in San Antonio.