LINDALE — Kayla Jackson held Forney in check Thursday, allowing just two hits and one runner to second base as Hallsville shut out the Lady Rabbits, 1-0, in Game 1 of a best-of-3 Class 4A, Region II, regional quarterfinal series at Lindale High School.

Game 2 is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight in Lindale. If a deciding contest is needed, it will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday at the same location.

The two teams battled through the first three innings with neither being able to generate anything offensively, facing each other's ace hurler, Jackson (21-3) for the Ladycats and M'Lynn Tillery (26-5) going for Forney.

The only score came in the bottom of the fourth as Jackson hammered an off speed pitch from Tillery off the left field wall to get aboard on a stand-up double.

Hallsville's (27-5) leading hitter Brittany Eitel followed by ripping the first pitch just inside the left field foul line in shallow left for another two-base Ladycat hit, scoring Jackson.

"I knew when Kayla (Jackson) got the double that I had to get her in," Eitel said. "The first time I batted she (Tillery) kept jamming me so I backed away from the plate (the second time) and she pitched me inside again and I just turned on it."

Tillery held Hallsville to four hits, with senior Reagan Peck (2-for-3) accounting for the other two knocks, both of which were singles.

Following a Shelby Brogdon lead-off single to open the fifth for the Lady Rabbits, Hallsville center fielder Jessica Davis made a clutch defensive play, leaping high in the air in deep center to rob Hillary Steed of a hit as Jackson fanned the final two Lady Rabbits to leave Brogdon at first.

"I was thinking nothing could hit the ground if it was hit to me and the ball looked low at first but ended up being hit high, so I probably looked pretty silly out there," Davis said.

Forney mounted its only scoring threat in the final frame as lead off hitter Kallon Thompson singled to left and took advantage of a bobble by the Ladycat left fielder to advance to second. After fouling five consecutive pitches off, Erica LeFlore, a University of Texas Arlington signee, went down swinging at a Jackson rise ball for the first Forney out before Jackson got the final two Lady Rabbits on fly balls to end the game, stranding Thompson, who had advanced to third on a passed ball, at the hot corner.

Jackson, having excellent control of her pitches, recorded first-pitch strikes on 18 of 24 batters faced while striking out seven and not allowing a walk in the complete-game victory.

"I had good location tonight and I was able to hit my spots," Jackson said. "Everybody can hit when you get this far in the playoffs so I know I have to stay focused on every batter."

Hallsville head coach Pat Eitel believes the Ladycats' motivation and concentration were the key elements in the victory.

"Kayla (Jackson) did a great job at keeping their big hitters off base," he said. "Their (Forney) slappers are unbelievable and they have so much speed when they get on base. We came in motivated after last week's big come-from-behind victory (in Game 3 against Rockwall-Heath) and our kids are pretty focused right now and the important thing is we don't want to have a let down. In playoff ball you are going to see a lot of 1-0 games and you will see who can battle."

Hallsville, the District 12-4A champion, advanced by defeating Rockwall-Heath two games to one in last week's area round play while Forney, the District 10-4A champion and No. 5 ranked team in the state, swept Sulphur Springs in two games.

———

Contact sports writer Jay Neal at jneal@coxmnm.com.