When Kyla Stancik stepped to the plate in the seventh inning, the Ganado Maidens were trailing 4-3 and were two outs from losing the State Championship to Riesel Lady Indians.
Then Stancik took the most important swing in Ganado high school softball history and everything changed.
Stancik smacked a linedrive, two-run single, to give the Maidens their first lead of the game, 5-4. A tense final three out finished off the game and the Maidens won their first softball State Championship.
The game lined up to be a pitcher’s duel, and it was, with Riesel sending Kyleigh Benton to the circle and the Maidens sending Saylor Bures. Senior Benton is a Texas A&M signee who entered the game with a 26-3 record. Bures, a sophomore, entered with a 29-5 record. Both pitchers averaged over 1.5 strikeouts per inning, so the expectations were a bunch of strikeouts, but the teams combined for only nine strikeouts, with Bures picking up five.
“Honestly, I love the feelings of nerves and stuff,” Bures said. “I know it sounds crazy but it gets me that much more locked in. I was mentally prepared. We’re at State, it’s obviously going to be the best of the best.”
The game started on a bad note for Ganado; the first three Maidens hitters were set down in order and Riesel answered with two runs of their own. The runs came after back-to-back walks and then a two RBI single gave Riesel a 2-0 lead. The single was a linedrive that barely missed the glove of a diving Faith Palacios.
In the second, the Maidens put up their first hit of the game when Palacios clobbered a double into the gap. Paisley Hajovsky followed with what would’ve been an RBI hit, but the third baseman was barely able to snag the hard-hit ball to end the inning. The Maidens weren’t able to get on the board, but they were making contact, so at that point they needed the hits to start falling in.
“We’ve gotten off to bad starts in other games and the girls don’t panic,” Maidens Head Softball Coach James Harp said. “They’re resilient and understand it is going to take a full seven innings. It’s all about believing and these girls believed all the way through. There was never a panic or a pressure moment.”
In the third inning, Riesel added another run to jump to a 3-0 lead. They were looking to add another run, but a play at the plate in which the Riesel runner ran into the Maidens catcher, Kalyn Benavides, caused an uproar. The Riesel crowd was upset at the out call but after the umpires conferred, the out call stood.
Madi Weempe opened the fourth inning with a single but she was left stranded. Riesel went down in order for the only time in the game in the fourth inning.
“We watched a lot of film, but you can’t tell velocity off film,” Harp continued. “Benton sat in the mid 50’s (mph) and touched the 60’s, we heard, and she is a really great pitcher, but we can hit good pitching.”
Both teams were in their first high school State Championship, but the Maidens team has played in a lot of high-pressure games when they went to consecutive Little League State titles, and advanced to Southwest Regionals one year, not to mention the deep playoff runs they’ve had the last few seasons. So panicking wasn’t in their repertoire.
“There was a little bit of nervousness when the game began, but we all decided to leave it all on the field,” Stancik said. “We all know how to play softball - we’ve been doing it since we were eight (years old).”
Raelynn Pena opened the fifth inning by reaching base the hard way: she was hit by a pitch. Hajovsky followed with another hard hit ball, but this time it found the right-centerfield gap and ended up with a double, as Pena scored the first run of the game for Ganado. The following batter, Jordyn Bundick, laid down a bunt but the third baseman overthrew the first baseman, allowing Hajovsky to score and Bundick to move to third after a second error on the same play.
Riesel wasn’t going to give away their lead and they went out in the fifth and added another run.
By the sixth, the Maidens appeared to have figured Benton out. Stancik singled and pinch runner Hallie Bures moved to second and then third on a passed ball. Hajovsky again came up with the big hit, a double down the line that scored Bures and moved Pena to third. Pena was left stranded but the Maidens now only trailed 4-3.
As the game progressed, any solid contact had everyone in attendance holding their breath, but the Maiden defense was up to the task, especially centerfielder Bundick, who ran down several ominous deep flyballs, with runners on base. Bundick ran down every fly ball hit her way, including snagging a deep fly to the left-center field warning track, with runners on second and third that just fell into her outstretched glove as she ran full-tilt to stop a rally and to keep two runs off the board for Riesel.
In the bottom of the sixth, Riesel opened with a walk, a single followed and they ended up with runners on second and third, but Ganado escaped when the Riesel batter hit an easy pop fly to end the inning.
Things started off badly in the final inning as the first Maiden batter struck out. But then the Maidens, always scrappy, always finding a way to win, started rolling.
Holt singled, Weempe singled and then Benavides was hit by a pitch to load the bases, setting up Stancik to deliver the single that scored the tying and go-ahead run.
“I was thinking I just need to hit the ball,” Stancik said about her seventh inning at-bat. “I need to do this for my team. Just hit the ball somewhere and score somebody, at least one run, but I hit it up the middle and scored two and I was very happy.”
Riesel wasn’t about to let Ganado steal away their win and they went into their final inning still fighting. The first batter popped out but a walk and a single gave Riesel two runners on base. Bures picked up her fifth strikeout for out number two and the final batter hit an easy pop fly that Holt caught, two-handed, and the team started celebrating their first softball state championship.
Stancik was named the State Championship game MVP.
“I feel amazing,” she said about the win. “I’m so happy and so excited.”
“This feels great, honestly I can’t believe it,” Bures added. “I’m speechless.”
When the Maidens returned to Ganado to celebrate at the football stadium, the team brightened up the dark football stadium with their return as the crowd of fans cheered them on. The city of Ganado had been suffering a power outage when the team and fans returned home.
The Maidens are set up to keep the wins rolling next year as they lose four to graduation: Weempe, Palacios, Zoey Ybarra, and Isabel Tristan.
Ganado finished the season as State Champs with a 33-5-1 record.
Ganado 5 - Riesel 4
Paisley Hajovsky 2 doubles, 2 RBI’s; Kyla Stancik 2 hits, 2 RBI’s; Madi Weempe 2 hits; Faith Palacios double; Laci Holt 1 hit; Jordyn Bundick 1 hit; Saylor Bures 7 innings, 8 hits, 4 earned runs, 5 strikeouts.
Fairy tale ending
