Tompkins was out to change things this year.

The Falcons have been a perennial playoff team over the years, but each of the past three years the Falcons have gotten there and been unable to advance.

When head coach Shay Orsak got to the team over the summer, she and the team talked about that and they set themselves a goal, this year they were going to break that streak.

The Falcons (16-12) did just that on Thursday, beating Fort Bend Travis (15-8) in a one game bi-district series 8-5 and advancing to the area round for the first time since 2019.

“It’s just so amazing,” said senior first baseman and pitcher Samantha Crumrin. “Every year since I’ve been here we have gotten to the playoffs, but we haven’t been able to get past the first round. It’s just so awesome, for us to experience this as seniors is amazing and then we have a lot of freshman on the team too and they get this experience and that will build them up and make them even better going forward.”

The Falcons have been on a surge late in the season and it was offense again that led the Falcons to the win on Thursday. Tompkins jumped ahead in the first inning of the game, getting two runners on before Lex Cebrero stepped to the plate and hit an RBI single to give Tompkins the lead. Travis tied it in the fourth inning, but Tompkins immediately retook the lead on a Lainey Wilkerson single that drove in a second run.

The Falcons fell into a hole in the fifth inning as Travis loaded the bases before Aubrey Jones hit a grand slam that put the Tigers up three runs, but again Tompkins had the answer. Chloe Grigsby trimmed the lead to one in the bottom of the fifth inning and Tompkins kept going, tying it in the bottom of the sixth on a Leah Gershman double before Cami Hearn doubled in another run as the Falcons retook the lead. Kaylee Segura then added on two more with a deep double to left field that gave Tompkins a three-run cushion.

“We all just said ok let’s get the lead back,” Kaylee Segura said. “They got the grand slam and that was on us, but we knew we were going to come back. We had been making good contact all night and it was a matter of time before we got a few more runs. It was a really fun game.”

 It was a good performance all around. Segura and Hearn both drove in two runs, while Leah Gershman, Segura and Peyton Ebel each scored two runs. Gershman pitched the first five innings and allowed four earned runs on nine hits while striking out two and walking two, before Crumrin came in and dominated the final two innings, allowing one hit and striking out two while holding Travis scoreless.

“Those two are such a good combo,” Orsak said. “They are each other’s biggest fans and they lift each other up. We had a game plan for them and the both of them executed it perfectly. I couldn’t be more proud of the way they did that.”

The Falcons advance to the area round, where they will play the winner of Memorial and Lamar. It’s a big step for the Falcons, but they want more.

“We’ve had this mindset of moving on past the first round in the offseason and to see them celebrate that is amazing,” Orsak said. We met that goal tonight but these girls are still hungry and we’re not done.”