Katy learned an important lesson late in district play.

A late district loss to Taylor showed the Tigers just how important it is to not take any opponent lightly. And since then the team has become more focused, more ready and more understanding of how important each day is when you have big goals in a season.

That approach showed in the bi-district round of the playoffs, as the Tigers completed a sweep of Fort Bend Dulles, beating the Vikings 12-0 on Saturday in the second game of their series after beating them 12-0 on Friday as well.

“I think that game against Taylor really opened our eyes and made the team realize that it doesn’t matter who you’re up against you have to be ready to play,” said Katy head coach Kalum Haack. “Just because we’re Katy it doesn’t mean that teams are just going to play bad and be scared. Taylor was a perfect example of that, but there’s been such a big improvement from us since then. That game made us focused and is something we’ve used to get better.”

Katy got one run in the first inning, when Avery Porter hit a sacrifice fly and a second in the second inning when Lauryn Soeken drove in a run on a single.

But it was the third inning when Katy broke things open. Ashtyn Reichardt got a run in with a double to start things in the inning before Ella-Kate Smith brought home two runs on a single. Hailey Gore then hit a sacrifice fly and Soeken brought in two on a single before Porter got another run in from a single, Reichardt hit an RBI single and Cameryn Harrison hit a two-run home run to make it 12-0. Katy didn’t allow a run the rest of the way to secure the win.

“We got the momentum early on today and we kept it going all throughout the first few innings,” Reichardt said. “We got runners on and were being disciplined which was big because yesterday, we weren’t that disciplined at the plate early on and were swinging at crazy pitches. But today we locked in on the pitch we wanted to see and we were able to hit it.”

Soeken started on the mound for Katy and went four innings, allowing just one hit on the day while striking out eight batters. This followed up a day where Smith pitched a no-hitter against Dulles, striking out 12. It gave Harrison two extra days of rest on the mound and also gave two young pitchers valuable innings.

“it was great to get them games under their belt,” Haack said. “Usually when they come in it’s following Cameryn and they’ll maybe get two innings. But giving them five innings like that gives them some stamina and confidence going forward. It was really good to have both of them going like that.”

The Tigers advance to play Bellaire in the area round and will look to keep their run going and advance to the regional quarterfinals again.

“We’ve stepped it up in playoffs and that’s what we have to continue to do,” Reichardt said. “We know that every practice and every day needs our full focus because how we practice is how we are going to play. We just have to continue getting better and make sure we’re locked in heading into next week.”