Outfielder Alex Yarbrough slides home with the first run of the game in Boerne’s 11-2 series-clinching win over Brackenridge. Photo by Mike Reeder

The Lady Greyhound softball team will play a double-header against New Braunfels Canyon Friday evening in the area round of the state playoffs.

The first game at the NEISD softball complex gets under way at 6 p.m., with the nightcap scheduled for 8 p.m.

If neither team sweeps, a third and deciding game will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday at the same location.

Canyon wrapped up the District 26-4A championship with an overall record of 24-5 and is ranked 12th in the state by the Texas Girls Coaches Association. Unranked Boerne is the number two seed from District 28-4A and is the defending state champion.

Rain forced the cancellation of the only game scheduled between the two teams earlier this spring, so they will be meeting for the first time this year with their seasons on the line.

“They’re legit, they’re good, and it’s going to be a very, very tough series for us,” Boerne Softball Coach Jennifer Fox said. “They have a freshman, left-handed pitcher who’s absolutely amazing on the mound.”

While Canyon’s Sara Mireles (21-5) has been impressive, Boerne’s own freshman phenom was pretty incredible herself in her playoff debut against Brackenridge last week.

Courtney Dwyer limited Brack to three runs in 14 innings and took a perfect game into the fourth inning of Friday night’s series clincher.

She lost the no-hitter when she forgot to cover first on a slow-roller on the first base side of the infield, and saw the shutout get away thanks to two errors in the same inning.

But she righted herself after that and finished with a two-hitter. Meanwhile, her teammates were putting up 17 runs in the course of sweeping the Lady Eagles. Boerne won Thursday’s opener 6-1 and finished the sweep with an 11-2 victory on Friday.

“I didn’t think about how good or bad the other team was, I just pitched as good as I could,” Dwyer said of her first playoff experience.

She admitted to some disappointment and a little letdown after the perfect game slipped away.

“I did realize I had a perfect game and it was kind of a disappointment,” Dwyer said. “After we made the errors it kind of affected everyone, but we came back after that.”

“She pitched great,” Fox said. “Her curve ball was working really well and kept them off balance.”

Boerne scored in every inning of game two except the fifth, with most of the early runs coming on two-out rallies.

Senior shortstop Kim LeCompte set the tone with a two-out double in the first that scored outfielder Alex Yarbrough from second. Yarbrough had originally popped up for what would have been the third out, but she was awarded first and the inning was extended when Brack’s pitcher was cited for leaping on her delivery, which constitutes an illegal pitch. S

Senior third baseman Ashton Bohnert delivered another two-out hit in the second that plated two more runs.

“One of the things their coach was talking about was that they were so frustrated we kept doing stuff with two outs,” Fox said.

Boerne catcher Michelle Sorenson put the game away for good in the sixth with a bases-clearing triple that became an error-aided, inside-the-park homerun when the ball got away from the third baseman.

Boerne ended up scoring its 11 runs on 12 hits, with at least half a dozen other scorched balls either hit straight at defenders or run down by Brack’s talented outfielders and shortstop.

Boerne also rapped out 11 hits in game one, with five coming in the decisive four-run third. Dwyer yielded only two hits and went the distance for the win.