The Sundown Roughettes battled against the Muenster Lady Hornets in a bestof- three series for the State Semifinals round of the 2A Division 2 softball playoffs this past weekend at Abilene Christian University, resulting in the Roughettes winning the State Semifinals Championship to punch their ticket to the State Championship for the second straight season.
In game one on Thursday, Muenster beat Sundown 6-5 across seven innings. Muenster took a 3-1 lead in the first inning and added two more runs in the second before Sundown scored four unanswered in the third. The two teams would go scoreless in the next three innings before Muenster scored a run in the top of the seventh to earn the win.
In the team statistics, the Lady Hornets bested the Roughettes 9-8 in hits, 2-1 in walks and 0-4 in errors committed.
Standouts at the plate for Sundown included Brynly Gregory going 2/4 with three runs-batted-in and two runs scored, Destiny Garza going 2/3 with two RBIs, a home run and a run scored, Breigh Gregory going 2/4 with a run scored, Nayleen Morin going 1/3 and Emry Jourden going 1/3 with a run scored and a walk.
Garza pitched the full game for the Roughettes, surrendering four earned runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out a batter. She threw 69% of her pitches for strikes.
In game two on Saturday, Sundown beat Muenster 12-7 across seven innings. Muenster took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, then the Roughettes scored four unanswered in the third and outscored them 4-3 in the fifth. Sundown would close the game out strong, outscoring them 4-2 in the final two innings.
In the team statistics, Sundown bested Muenster 15-2 in hits while Muenster bested them 3-1 in walks and 9-4 in errors committed.
Standouts at the plate included Breigh Gregory going 4/4 with five RBIs, three runs scored, a home run and a triple, Garza going 2/3 with three RBIs, two doubles and a run scored, Camry Jourden going 2/4 with an RBI, a run scored and a double, Morin going ¼ with an RBI, Ibarra going ¼ with an RBI and Jaelyn Dominguez going 2/4 with three runs scored and a double, and Brynly Gregory going 2/5 with two runs scored and a triple.
Breigh Gregory pitched the full game, surrendering two earned runs on two hits and three walks while striking out two batters. She threw 65% of her pitches for strikes.
In game three on Saturday, Sundown beat Muenster 6-1 across seven innings. The Roughettes scored two runs in the first inning, three runs in the third and a run in the fourth, while the Lady Hornets lone run came in the second.
In the team statistics, Sundown bested Muenster 9-3 in hits while Muenster bested them 2-1 in walks and 0-2 in errors committed.
Garza pitched the full game for the Roughettes, surrendering one earned run on three hits and two walks while striking out two batters.
The Roughettes were once again led by Breigh Gregory at the plate, who went 2/4 with two RBIs, two doubles and a run scored. She was followed by Brynly Gregory going ¼ with two RBIs, a run scored and a home run, Garza going ¼ with an RBI, a run scored, a double and a stolen base, Emry Jourden going 2/3 with two runs scored, a double and a walk, and Dominguez, Morin and Camry Jourden who all went 1/3.
Breigh Gregory was instrumental in the Roughettes series win, finishing with eight total RBIs and a win on the mound, and following the series she shared not only her winning approach, but also the team’s.
“I just tried to stay confident in myself, and I just knew I had to do something for my team. I know we wanted to go State again,” Breigh Gregory said. “We were pretty nervous at first, but when we were out there, we decided to stick with each other as a team and fight together.”
Roughettes Head Softball Coach Meagan Gonzales would describe Breigh as a “dawg,” commending her gutsy and impactful play. Coach Gonzales would go on to also share her thoughts on the series as a whole.
“Hats off to Muenster. That’s a really good team, and we knew that coming into the series. It showed on Thursday that they were going to put pressure on us. We’ve seen it before, but it’s a bigger stage,” Coach Gonzales said. “We came into Saturday thinking ‘Let’s go compete and stay relaxed. This is still softball.’ We kept trying to make too many big plays instead of making things simple. Today, we simplified things and it helped us move on.”
The series win improves the Roughettes to 30-4 overall, securing the State Semifinals Championship and advancing them to the State Championship.
The championship game is an exact rematch of 2025, where the Roughettes bested Shiner 9-8. The series is one-game winner takes all on Thursday at 1 p.m. at Red and Charline McCombs Field in Austin.