Slowly but surely, the Plano East softball team began building momentum in pre-district play with solid pitching and an opportunistic offense.

It started district play undefeated, including a win over state-ranked Plano West. All of a sudden, East was stacking wins on top of one another. Despite a late-season loss to West, it swept Plano Senior and ended the season tied for first place in arguably the toughest district in the Metroplex.

Now, the Lady Panthers are four rounds deep in the playoffs after dispatching of Marcus, South Grand Prairie and Waco Midway. Its the schools deepest playoff run since 2012, when East advanced to the state semifinals.

That team had senior leadership and a tenured coach in Karen Kalhoefer, and while current East head coach Cindy Mosteller is certainly no rookie, East is coming off a fourth-place finish last year and has exactly one senior on this years roster.

So, where did this come from?

A couple of players point to the win over West at the beginning of the year as the moment they knew they were a good team; others look at the sweep of Plano. Still, others insist the chemistry began growing as early as pre-season.

Regardless of when the seed was planted, the Lady Panthers sport a deep, talented squad that now has a date with defending Class 6A champions Keller on Thursday.

We never really had a big head or anything coming into this season, but once we beat Plano [for the second time], that really gave us a confidence boost heading into the playoffs, said junior Gabbi Lopez. This team just has a lot more chemistry and more trust in one another. Our practices are very engaged and we work on a lot of things to prepare us for the game ahead of us.

Lopez was the teams ace last year as a sophomore, but now, with the emergence of freshman Carson Armijo, the squad has two live arms to lean on in the playoffs. Mosteller has used Armijo as her Game 1 starter in the three rounds the Lady Panthers have played in, then used Lopez to close out the opposing squad in Game 2.

Its been a remarkable combination, as Armijo relies on strikeouts, while Lopez uses an off-speed approach to pitch to contact. The result: three sweeps in three playoff rounds.

Its nice knowing that I have someone to come in relief if I need it, Lopez said. [Armijo] is a strong player all-around, and she and I have come a long way together as a duo.

I came into this season wanting to prove to others that Im a high-level player and that Im capable of competing against girls three years older than me, Armijo added. Im really grateful that Im getting the opportunity to pitch this deep into the playoffs, because now every team and batter is tough. There are no easy outs anymore.

While the pitching has been stellar, both Lopez and Armijo have had ample run support.

In six playoff games, East has scored 57 runs an average of more than nine runs per game. And, in the final two district games before the playoffs, the Lady Panthers scored nine and 12 runs, respectively.

Junior leadoff hitter Bella Konieczka said practices are very competitive, and that Mosteller lets the squad hit off of Armijo and Lopez in hopes of improving the offenses timing against other pitchers.

We work on hitting every day, and coach is always mixing up drills, Konieczka said. Hitting off live pitchers is really helpful, especially because [Armijo and Lopez] are so good. It makes hitting off other pitchers easier.

The next test for East will be Keller pitchers Dylann Kaderka, a sophomore, and senior Sarah Taylor. Like East, Keller has not yet lost a playoff game; in fact, going back to the end of the regular season, Keller has won 14 games in a row.

At the plate, the Lady Indians are led by junior Kasey Simpson, who leads the team in home runs, triples and doubles. Simpson was a star for Keller as a sophomore and committed to play softball at Iowa State once she graduates in 2018.

Game 1 is Thursday at Plano East at 5 p.m., with Game 2 set for Friday at Argyle High School at 5 p.m. A Game 3, if necessary, will be held Friday following Game 2 at Argyle.

For continued coverage of the local sports scene, follow @timothyglaze on Twitter.

Read the original:
Softball: Chemistry key to Plano East's playoff run - Star Local Media