Katy just didn’t have it on Thursday.

The Tigers have been consistently great all season, but in game one of the regional final on Thursday, things were just difficult for the Tigers.

For one of the first times this season, Cameryn Harrison struggled on the mound, the senior did not have her normal overpowering stuff and struggled to get ahead and stay ahead in counts. Katy’s offense struggled as well going up against one of the top teams in the state and the Tigers were unable to overcome Kingwood, falling 6-3 after a walk off home run by Kingwood put Katy a game down in the Region III-6A Final.

“Kingwood has a really good softball team,” said Katy coach Kalum Haack. “They came ready to play and compete. Cameryn didn’t have her best stuff and that’s going to happen sometimes, she had to pitch from behind in the count and it was a struggle. Our offense just wasn’t able to produce enough to overcome that tonight, but we are going to go in, make some adjustments for tomorrow and if we do that right then I believe we’ll be back here on Saturday.”

Katy took the lead in the top of the first. Hailey Gore hit a single and advanced to third base before Montgomery Henderson hit a sacrifice fly to bring the run home, but Kingwood struck back in the bottom of the third when Hunger Quentel hit a 2-run home run that gave Kingwood the lead.

Katy came right back and took the lead in the top of the fourth. Maddie Smith successfully put down a suicide squeeze that tied the game and Brooke Fechner singled to put Katy ahead, but a Ava Jolley solo home run in the bottom of the sixth tied things back up with one inning to go. A double and a walk in the bottom of the seventh put two runners on for Kingwood and forced a pitching change and Mia Gagliardi ended it with a three run home run, giving the Mustangs a key advantage heading into game two.

Katy had only two hits on the night, from Fechner and Gore, with Fechner and Henderson driving in the runs for the Tigers. Henderson finished the game with 6.1 innings pitched, allowing five runs on five hits while striking out five and walking four.

Game two will be played 7 p.m. Friday at Katy, if a game three is forced it will be played 7 p.m. Saturday back at Kingwood.

“You can’t sit here and worry about something that’s already happened, that’s what we told them after,” Haack said. “It’s already happened, it’s already over. What you can do is make a difference tomorrow. If you didn’t hit well today and you have a chance tomorrow to take advantage. It’s all there for us, we just have to make the adjustments and execute.”