![\"Southwest](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/swcsoftball.jpg\" "\\"Southwest")
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Southwest Christian softball poses for a team picture to celebrate Lara Langford\u2019s 250th career strikeout Tuesday, March 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Mike Waters<\/p>\n
Special to the Star-Telegram<\/p>\n
FORT WORTH<\/p>\n
Two of the best private school softball pitchers in the state took the mound as the Fort Worth Southwest Christian Eagles battled the Fort Worth Country Day Falcons in a non-district contest Tuesday.<\/p>\n
SCS, a TAPPS Division II program, and Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) Country Day showcased quite the matchup \u2014Senior Lara Langford of SCS, a UMass-Boston signee, versus Country Day junior Madeline Richey, a Boston College commit.<\/p>\n
The duel didn\u2019t disappoint, as Langford and the Eagles broke a 2-2 deadlock, punching across a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to emerge with a 4-2 triumph over the Falcons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew runs were going to be at a premium,\u201d said Southwest Christian head coach Jennifer Cline. \u201cWe have a great pitcher and they [Country Day] do as well. Great pitching duel. Great game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richey laced a one-out single in the top of the third, stole second, and came around on an error to give Country Day an early 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Langford had the equalizer in the bottom frame, coaxing a walk, which preceded an Emma Rodwell single. Langford would tie the game on a Country Day error one batter later.<\/p>\n
Shortstop Rachel Swenson drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the fourth, stole second and third base, and crossed home plate after a Country Day miscue to give the Eagles a 2-1 advantage.<\/p>\n
Country Day responded in the top of the fifth, as Richey forced a one-out walk, and came around to score on a Taylor Higgins double to forge a 2-2 tie.<\/p>\n
The Eagles\u2019 Jackie Regalado got things started in the home half of the sixth, reaching on an error via a bunt. Swenson delivered the go-ahead RBI with a double. A bunt single by Eva Anderson scored Swenson all the way the second for an added insurance run.<\/p>\n
Country Day (3-2) managed to get runners on second and third with two outs in the top of the seventh, but Langford got junior Ryleigh Hall — a Stephen F. Austin pledge — on a game-ending ground out to second, and the Eagles celebrated the victory.<\/p>\n
Langford and Richey each turned in impressive outings.<\/p>\n
Coming into this matchup, Langford had recorded 62 strikeouts in 33 innings with a miniscule 0.848 ERA. Offensively, Langford was batting .550 with 4 home runs, 14 RBIs and 14 runs scored.<\/p>\n
Against Country Day, pitching a complete game while throwing 117 pitches, Langford scattered five hits, walked three and fanned 11 in the victory.<\/p>\n
Langford also reached a milestone in this contest. Eight strikeouts shy of 250 for her career entering the game, Langford hit that mark against the lead-off batter in the top of the sixth, and her team gathered around its standout hurler on the mound to celebrate.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a fantastic player,\u201d said Cline. \u201cPitching. Offensively. A very special talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Langford said she was just \u201ctrying to stay focused\u201d, and first and foremost happy the team came away with a win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just trying to attack their hitters,\u201d said Langford. \u201cAnd keep them off balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
On eclipsing the 250-career strikeouts Langford credited her coaches and teammates, saying it\u2019s a team game with team accomplishments.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Richey turned in a stellar performance for the Falcons, pitching a complete game, striking out 15 batters, giving up four hits and issuing six walks.<\/p>\n
Richey, entering the game, was 3-1 with a 0.519 ERA, 65 strikeouts and just three walks.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere<\/p>\n
Fort Worth Christian softball improved to 17-3 after a 6-0 shutout of THESA. Gabby Bright fanned 13 in the victory and surpassed 100 strikeouts on the season.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published March 24, 2026 at 11:19 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southwest Christian softball poses for a team picture to celebrate Lara Langford\u2019s 250th career strikeout Tuesday, March 24,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":680098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[286085,5229,286083,7371,286084,7372,285148,286082,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-680097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-250th-strikeout","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-country-day-softball","11":"tag-fort-worth","12":"tag-fort-worth-softball","13":"tag-fortworth","14":"tag-high-school-softball","15":"tag-southwest-christian-softball","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-tx","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116288367349838531","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}