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FRISCO – When it comes to hitting home runs in one season, Kennedy Bradley set the grand standard in grand fashion on Friday. Even better for Melissa, pitcher Eloisa Maes had a grand showing of her own.
Bradley smacked two homers to left with the second giving her the Dallas-area record for most home runs in a season with 23 as Melissa rolled to a 10-0, five-inning win over Frisco Wakeland in a one-game Class 5A Division I area playoff series at the Rock Hill High School Softball Field. Bradley’s second homer was a grand slam in the fourth inning that gave Melissa a 7-0 lead and surpassed the previous single-season mark of 22 set by teammate Hutton “LuLu” Adrian as a freshman in 2024.
Maes needed a fraction of her team’s offense to take care of the rest. Leaning on a corner-biting curveball, Maes (25-0) racked up 12 strikeouts.
Bradley tied Adrian’s mark with a two-run blast to left in the first inning, clearing the fence with room to spare. The second round tripper for Bradley – a University of Florida commit – just cleared the fence, but doing the job set off a celebration with the entire Melissa team when she reached home plate.
“The first home run was a high ball out of the strike zone. I’ve seen a few this year like that this year and I attacked hard. The second one was down the middle and I thought I had I had it when I hit it. My team went silent, then I could tell from hearing them it was gone,” Bradley said. “This is a special feeling and I wouldn’t want to do it with any other team. They are definitely my biggest supporters.”
Bradley’s two homers gave the Melissa team 104 for the season, one behind the national single-season team record of 105 set by Stonewall (La.) North DeSoto in 2022. Melissa (32-0), the top-ranked team in the nation according to MaxPreps and 2024 5A state champions, advances to face Midlothian in the Region II semifinal round with details to be determined. Wakeland (21-5) was eliminated by Melissa for the second straight year, getting out-scored in three postseason games 17-0.
Maes was accurate the entire way with just two Wakeland batters reaching counts of three balls. The closest Wakeland came to a hit was a line drive to center by Kaylee Kinney to lead of the fourth inning that was right at Melissa center fielder Finlee Williams.
“I was working corner to corner with the curveball. We’ve been on spin all season and executing,” Maes said. “It’s nice to push myself and have all these amazing teammates to back me up.”
Adrian extended Melissa lead to 3-0 in the third inning with a two-out, RBI single to center to drive home Williams, who scored three runs and had two stolen bases. Pinch hitter Rhianna Wheeler capped a three-run fifth inning with a RBI single to left to end the game by the 10-run mercy rule.
— Rick Kretzschmar
Mansfield Legacy 9, Midland 3: Legacy completed a series sweep of Midland with Friday’s win as Meredith Davidson hit two home runs and had four RBIs. Katelyn Moreaux also homered in the victory, a follow up to Legacy’s dominant 10-0 win in Game 1 on Thursday.
Reliever Natalie Moreaux pitched a no hitter through four innings, striking out five batters and walking two.
Keller 12, Wolfforth Frenship 5: After falling 3-1 to Wolfforth Frenship on Thursday in Game 1 of their area round series, Keller escaped with a 6-5 Game 2 win on Friday to force Game 3. The series culminated in Keller’s rout of Frenship and a bid to the regional semifinals.
Kaiya Fabela homered twice, once in the fourth inning and once in the sixth, and had four RBIs in Keller’s win. Keller took a 6-2 lead over Frenship in the top of the third inning after Lauren Kavanaugh’s RBI double, Landry Beaman’s two-score home run and Madison Eads’ solo home run. It was a great day at the plate for Keller, which recorded 15 hits in the Game 3 win to take the series.
Euless Trinity 7, El Paso Eastlake 5: Meela Elkins helped Trinity to a 1-0 lead over Eastlake in their best-of-three area round series with four RBIs. Elkins, who went 2-for-4 at bat, homered in the top of the third inning and drove in two runs to cut into Eastlake’s three-run lead. Peyton Hosey tied the game at three runs each in that same inning after hitting her own home run.
Eastlake opened scoring in the bottom of the first, marching out to a 3-0 lead after Annahi Valdez’s 3-RBI double.Trinity Will meet Eastlake again for Game 2 of the series Saturday at 10 a.m.
Plano East 11, South Grand Prairie 0: Plano East completed a series sweep, as the batting lineup recorded 10 hits and pitcher Jadyn Dawson surrendered no runs.
Dawson allowed two hits and struck out six batters. She also drew two walks and had an RBI. Julia Wilson led Plano East with five RBIs, finishing 2-for-4 at the plate. On Thursday, Plano East beat South Grand Prairie 5-3 in Game 1.
Midlothian Heritage 13, Woodrow Wilson 0: Heritage won the one-game playoff to achieve its first ever area round championship. Trinity Chittamai pitched a shutout, as Taylor Bilderback and Ava Robinson each hit home runs in the win.
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