Dowland, Kennedy Keep Rolling; Down El Dorado

For four years, Alicia Dowland has been in Kennedy’s softball lineup.

And for three years, she has been disappointed whenever the playoffs came around and Kennedy made an all-too-early exit.

With the Southern Section playoffs beginning three weeks from today, Dowland and her teammates are thinking that, just maybe, this could be their year. No more league championships followed by second-round flameouts, which happened twice.

Eighth-ranked Kennedy continued its run through the Empire League Tuesday, with a 3-0 victory over El Dorado in a showdown for first place at Cypress Arnold Park.

Kennedy improved to 15-5, 5-0 in league through the halfway point as it tries to win its third consecutive league title. El Dorado dropped to 13-7, 4-1.

Dowland, who homered twice last week, continued her torrid pace. She had three hits, scoring the first run after her leadoff double in the fourth inning, and continued a rally in the fifth with her final line drive.

“If we keep being the underdog, I think we’ll do great in the playoffs,” said Dowland, a shortstop whose team will be at least second banana in the Division III playoffs to Pacifica, the state’s top-ranked team. “When we start thinking about rankings and stats, it seems like we beat ourselves because we’re not focused. We’re so concerned about impressing everyone and we don’t play our game.”

Three of Kennedy’s losses were in consecutive games after rising as high as fifth in the county rankings.

“If we keep playing the way we are,” Dowland said, “I see a very bright future.”

Examples? Traci Hensel (10-2) scattered four hits against El Dorado, which went 0 for 8 with runners on base; only one hit came from the 3-4-5 spots in the order. Hensel lowered her earned-run average to 0.27--among the county’s five best.

In contrast, four of Kennedy’s eight hits were with runners on base, and the Irish also had three sacrifices, two that led to runs. Dowland, who bats third, and cleanup batter Adrianna Wilson combined for five hits against Carrie Jeffries (8-6).

Late-inning replacement Nicole Crouse singled and scored in the fifth inning on Wilson’s hit, and drove in Christen Fien with the final run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

“We’re playing excellent as a whole,” Dowland said. “When one player is down, someone else is there to pick them up.”

In another Empire League game:

Cypress 4, Century 0--Lisa Monreal pitched a three-hitter and Laura Powers had three hits and an RBI for Cypress (13-7, 3-2).