District champs: Shiner All-Stars advance

SEGUIN – Never give up.

That’s been the mantra for the Shiner 11-12-year-old All-Star softball team, and it’s a big reason why the team is still playing. Shiner completed its run through the District 31 Little League playoffs with a 6-5 victory over Seguin in the district championship game Tuesday at the Seguin Little League Complex.

“I’m really proud of the girls,” Shiner manager Doug Nevlud said. “They never gave up. They practice and put in a lot of hard work every day.”

Shiner went 6-1 in District 31 Tournament play, including a 4-1 run in the East Zone portion of the tournament.

Shiner’s only loss was 8-0 to Hallettsville in the first game of the East Zone championship round.

“We had a tough go-round in our zone,” Nevlud said. “Playing Hallettsville made us a better team though. It prepared us for Seguin and it will prepare us for the sectional tournament.”

Shiner begins Texas West Section 4 Tournament play at 6 p.m. today in New Braunfels.

The winner of the Section 4 Tournament advances to the Texas West State Tournament July 19-22 in Fort Worth.

Shiner began the district tournament with a pair of lopsided wins – 16-0 over Lockhart and 13-0 over Cuero – to advance to the winner’s bracket. After beating Hallettsville, 4-2, on July 6, Shiner just needed one more win to advance to the District 31 championship against West Zone champion Seguin.

Hallettsville had other plans, however, as it beat Shiner, 8-0, on July 7 to force a decisive winner-take-all contest for the East Zone championship and the right to face Seguin for the district championship. Shiner responded with a 9-3 win over Hallettsville to claim the East Zone.

“The loss to Hallettsville was a wakeup call for the girls,” Nevlud said. “They found a way to bounce back and keep going.”

Although Shiner won the East Zone, it still had another tough task. Because Seguin went undefeated in West Zone play, Shiner had to beat Seguin twice to claim the district championship.

Shiner blanked Seguin, 6-0, on Monday to force a winner-take-all game on Tuesday for the district championship. Shiner started Tuesday’s game with six runs in its first four at-bats to take a 6-0 lead in the middle of the fourth inning.

Seguin answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the Shiner lead to four, 6-2, after four complete innings of play. Seguin then scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth before Shiner closed out the game to pick up a 6-5 win and the district championship.

“Bethany (Nevlud) put her pitches where they needed to be and the defense did a great job of backing her up,” Nevlud said.

Bethany Nevlud struck out 12 batters and gave up four hits while walking five to pick up the win in the pitcher’s circle. She also went 1-for-2 at the plate with a walk, two RBIs and a run scored.

Keslie Vega (2-for-4, RBI, 2 runs scored) led Shiner at the plate on Tuesday. Mackinley Pilat (1-for-4, run), Kailey Williams (1-for-2, walk, 2 RBIs), Taylor Wenske (1-for-2, run), Brooke Kloesel (1-for-1) and Lauren Haas (1-for-2) also had hits for Shiner.