AUBREY -- After their second decisive victory in as many days, the Lady Chaparrals were pleased to be moving on in the playoffs with Aubrey’s 6-1 series-clinching win over Maypearl on Friday, but they were a relatively subdued bunch despite advancing to the Class 2A Region II final.

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Aubrey's Kylie Roos drives in two runs with a base hit in the first inning against Maypearl during Game 2 of a Class 2A Region II semifinal series Friday in Aubrey.

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“When you’ve been there and you have basically the same team back, and you win something like this, you have an empty feeling,” Aubrey head coach Shon Ranton said. “Obviously you’re happy, but you have an empty feeling. You know there’s more to do.”

The Lady Chaparrals (29-2) lost in the state final last season and want nothing less than a return trip to Austin.

“It’s reassuring to win [on Friday] because we know we just have one more [round] to go back to state, which is where we want to go,” Aubrey junior pitcher Kasey Carlock said. “It’s very exciting. We just know we have to work hard because we know what’s coming up next week. It’s really exciting because we can experience this whole thing [the state tournament] again with just one more win.”

Carlock had just one troublesome inning when she gave up three two-out hits and a run but finished with her 10th win of the season after striking out 11 Maypearl batters.

Ranton said his team’s performance wasn’t its best, but he’s plenty content with posting a slightly subpar performance and still coming away with a convincing win and advancing in the playoffs.

“Kasey fought through it and she still pitched good, but Kasey knows as well as I do that that wasn’t her best,” Ranton said. “But I tell you what, if we’re still able to do that and that’s not our best, we’ll take it.”

Aubrey got off to a blazing start in the first inning when leadoff hitter Kacee Henderson singled before being moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Carlock. A Kelsey Reding walk set up cleanup hitter Kylie Roos with one out.

Roos drove Maypearl pitcher Brittany Widner’s first offering to the left-center field gap for a two-run stand-up double. Aubrey went on to score five runs in the first two innings.

“I was very excited after the first two innings,” Ranton said. “We came out and we were ready to hit and executed early. We jumped on them to give them a little bit of a doubt feeling. After that we cruised a little bit, but that’s normal.”

Henderson, who finished the night 2-for-3 from the plate with three runs scored, was the spark plug that a leadoff hitter is designed to be for the Lady Chaparrals.

“When she starts the game like that it just automatically -- the feeling overcomes me,” Ranton said. “I know Carlock’s gonna get the bunt down. We’ve got No. 3 and 4 with her [Henderson] possibly in scoring position.

“Unless we just sit up there and strike out or something, it’s going to usually end well. It doesn’t happen every time, but with her getting on and Kasey as the No. 2 to bunt, it’s a very good feeling, that’s for sure.”

Carlock’s greatest defensive help came from her battery mate, catcher Amanda Nelson. The sophomore threw out two Maypearl base runners -- one at second and one at third -- to prevent other runs from possibly scoring.

“Our biggest asset on defense tonight was Amanda throwing out two runners,” Ranton said. “That helped us more than anything.”

With the win, Aubrey now has the chance to scout the remaining games in the S&S Consolidated-Brock series at Saginaw. S&S won 3-0 in Game 1 on Thursday as standout pitcher Angela White was just three outs shy of a perfect game and struck out 11.

Ranton’s more familiar with S&S than with Brock and said if S&S goes on to win the series, next week’s region final could be a classic.

“We had seen S&S once but we need to look again because if they do sweep and beat Brock, they will be bringing everything in the world that we want to handle, that’s for sure,” Ranton said. “It’s gonna be a brawl in the next round. It will be very tough. It will be mentally straining and the girls are gonna have to step up.

“Within the last month, they’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. They keep delivering. If they can keep doing that, I’ll feel pretty good about our chances.”

ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com

Aubrey 6, Maypearl 1, Aubrey wins series 2-0

Maypearl            000            010            0            --            1            7            3

Aubrey 320            100            x            --            6            6            1

WP -- Kasey Carlock (10-0). LP -- Brittany Widner. 2B -- M: Widner. A: Kylie Roos 2. Records -- Aubrey (29-2).