By Brian Gosset
X – @gosset41
X – @gmsportsmedia1
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS – 4 home runs and a no-hitter pushed Melissa past Midlothian 12-0 in a run-rule victory during their 1-game Class 5A D1 regional semifinal playoff on Thursday at Birdville.
Melissa (31-2) will play Lake Belton or Prosper Walnut Grove in next week’s Region 2 championship. Lake Belton leads that series 1-0 after coming back to beat the Wildcats in extras on Thursday.
Eloisa Maes (29-2) allowed just two base runners – a walk in the 1st inning and one in the 3rd off a throwing error. The Arizona commit struck out 4 batters and recorded her 1st no-hitter this season of 5 or more innings. Maes had 2 other no-hitters during district play that lasted 3 innings each.
“Not many know, but I jumped on her after last week’s game with Reedy,” coach Cassie Crabtree said. “She only gave up 3 hits, but there were other tiny details that a lot of people don’t see. So in this game, she commanded the zone so well and owned every at-bat and every pitch.”
Midlothian starting pitcher Abby Insley shut down the Cardinals’ first 3 batters and picked up one strikeout to keep it scoreless in the 1st inning.
The bats got hot in the 2nd – highlighted by a pair of home runs from Izzy Gonzales (Memphis) and Rihanna Wheeler (Northwestern State). Gonzales hit the first pitch of her at-bat and Wheeler’s was a 2-run shot that made it 3-0.
“After that 1st inning, I told them we can’t go down 1-2-3,” Crabtree said. “We don’t go down 1-2-3. Our big thing is we’re going to score every inning, we’re going to get runners on and they did that from the second inning on.”
It pushed Melissa’s home run total to 90 on the season – marking the 3rd straight season the Cardinals have hit 90 home runs. They set the national record with 122 last season.
“It was an inside fast-ball and I just sent it,” said. Wheeler, who hit her 6th home run. “We have great hitters and we love to run-rule people. Our main thing is to run-rule people and put up as many runs on the board.”
The Cardinals scored 4 runs in the 3rd. Oklahoma commit Finlee Williams hit a liner over the left field wall for her 20th home run and Florida signee Kennedy Bradley drove in Bradyn Young with an RBI single off the wall.
Freshman Ana Gonazles capped off the inning with a 2-run double to center that drove in Bradley and Shug Bradford (Auburn) to extend the lead to 7-0.
Catcher Lulu Adrian, an Arkansas commit, legged out an RBI triple and Bradley followed her with a 2-run home run that tied her for the team lead at 20 alongside Williams.
Williams added a 2-run double in the top of the 5th.
Melissa’s home run total sits at 92 – matching the program’s mark in 2024, which broke the state record at the time. The Cardinals have won back-to-back state championships, beating Barbers Hill 4-2 in last year’s 5A D1 final.
“This game was great and we did really well,” said Wheeler. “We have had good chemistry this year and I like that.”
