Break out the sunscreen.
Grand Oaks is taking its show to the sunshine for a couple important District 13-6A this week.
Call it a pair of Spring Break Showdowns.
The Grizzlies (13-3, 3-1) will take on a pair of playoff teams from a year ago as Conroe (11-5, 2-1) visits Tuesday and then they travel to rival Oak Ridge (12-5, 2-2) Wednesday. Both games are scheduled for 12:45 p.m. first pitches.
The three teams mentioned have something in common. Recently, all of them have fallen short against New Caney, who has taken control of the top spot in the league standings at 4-0.
Grand Oaks played a pair of tight contests last week. It beat College Park Tuesday night, 3-1, and lost its first district game Friday, 6-4, to the Eagles.
It was a memorable finish against the Cavaliers as right fielder Kiley Milligan triggered a game-ending double play by catching a fly ball and throwing a runner out at the plate, which was nicely fielded and tagged by Mayce Burkett.
Unfortunately the Grizzlies couldn’t carry those positive vibes into Friday as the red-hot Eagles prevailed. Grand Oaks battled back for two runs in the final inning and came up shy.
The Grizzlies totaled nine hits between the two games with just one for extra bases. Ella Brown had an RBI in each game.
Pitching was steady with Victoria Hernandez, a freshman, taking the win with one earned run allowed against College Park. The Eagles had one earned run against Grand Oaks as Kaitlynn Torres went 2⅔ innings and Kat Mack went 3⅓ without allowing a hit.
Grand Oaks has already previewed Conroe this season.
The teams met Feb. 28 at the Southeast Texas Invitational with the Tigers winning 10-6. Milligan and Lilo Wright each homered in that one, while Ava Butler, Mack, Torres and Sage Oglesby hit doubles. Mack, McKenna Lemons and Torres all pitched.
Conroe had two homers by Addison Mason that game while Hayben Frederick also went deep. The Tigers were missing star hitter Alisa Sneed, a University of Texas commit with seven homers already this season, and ace pitcher Ava Lantagne that game. Both were competing at a track meet.
Conroe played just once last week, a 14-0 win over Oak Ridge.
The Tigers won both meetings over Grand Oaks last year by a combined score of 20-9.
The War Eagles lost twice last week – 6-3 to New Caney and the aforementioned run-rule loss to Conroe. The War Eagles began district play with consecutive lopsided wins over Cleveland (13-0) and College PArk (14-3).
Oak Ridge won both meetings over the Grizzlies last year. The March meeting went 10 innings with Oak Ridge coming through in the top of the inning. Torres pitched 5⅔ innings that night with one earned run. Burkett doubled twice at the plate and totaled three RBIs.
The War Eagles won 8-3 in the April meeting. Larissa Tavares had a solid game with three hits, including a double, and an RBI.
Grand Oaks’ Lilo Wright (1) slides into home plate March 4, 2025 against College Park. (Jose Palomo/SportCast Media)
