The Hawley Lady Bearcats program seems to be back on track.

The Lady Bearcats are using their surprising early exit from the 2022 playoffs as motivation this season.

So far, it’s working.

They scored 42 runs in their sweep of Albany last week, and the Lady Bearcats plan to keep that momentum this week against Reagan County.

Erika Cruz said, “I have a bunch of passion for this sport and playing with these girls that I’ve grown up with my entire life. From day one my freshman year we’ve always talked about going to state and making it far and this year we have a pretty good team and we know that we can go far if we put our minds to it. Last year we were put out in the first round, so it’s fun to say that we’re going on to the next round.”

Shaylynn Bailey said, “From the beginning it just all felt different with them and tournaments and our records and everything. I just knew it was going to be good district play and I was hoping we’d go far in playoffs. We’d think that a year ago we were not playing softball and here we are now still going and I’m very proud of my team and the way we work together and I hope to go further than we’ve ever have.”

Hawley and Reagan County are set to start the area round of the playoffs on Friday at 4 p.m. in Stanton. Game 2 follows Game 1 immediately.