Katy checked off another box on Thursday.

The Tigers are on a singular mission this year, but to get to where they want to go, Katy knows it has to focus on the the day in front of them.

Katy kept that same approach this week and didn’t look ahead. The Tigers knew they couldn’t afford to overlook an opponent and Katy took a focused approach that paid off int heir regional quarterfinal one-game playoff against Cinco Ranch, beating the Cougars 8-0 to advance to the regional semifinals for the second time in three years.

“We’ve focused on keeping our energy up and that’s something we take really seriously,” said sophomore outfielder Ella-Kate Smith. “Energy can win or lose you ballgames so It’s just trusting in each other, building each other up and trusting that this team will get runs across no matter who’s up. We play together and focus on doing that every day, it’s made a big difference.”

For the first time in the playoffs Katy didn’t run rule their opponent, but the Tigers didn’t get frustrated with anything and took their runs where they could get them. It took until the third inning, but Katy got in front when Montgomery Henderson hit a single that drove in a run and added a second two batters later on a Maddie Smith RBI single. The Tigers then added on in the fourth inning. Ashtyn Reichardt drove in a run on a single and Hailey Gore did the same, Cameryn Harrison added an RBI on a sacririce fly and Ella-Kate Smith hit a single to bring home the Tigers sixth run. Ella-Kate Smith secured the win in the bottom of the sixth when she hit a two-run home run to put the game out of reach.

“E.K. (Ella-Kate) just does a good job and puts a good swing on everything,” said Katy head coach Kalum Haack. “She’s just really consistent and that’s what you need. She isn’t trying to swing for the fence but she takes a really good cut and that’s how you drive in runs.”

Smith had three RBIs on two hits and Katy was led by Cameryn Harrison on the mound, who put on another dominant display by pitching five innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits while striking out 11 and walking three, before Lauryn Soeken came in and closed out the games for the final two innings, striking out two and allowing just one hit.

“I’ve thrown to Cinco a bunch of times, so they knew what was coming and stayed patient and I thought did a good job,” Harrison said. “I could see they wanted to attack my fast stuff so I started mixing things up and I think that made the difference for me on the mound. It was a good night and I’m glad we were able to advance.”

Katy advances to play Brazoswood (31-7), which comes off a sweep of Pearland in the regional quarterfinals. Katy earned an 8-1 win over Brazoswood in tournament play earlier in the year.

“It’s all about playing off of each other and I think we keep getting better with that,” Smith said. “Sometimes you’re not going to get the big swing, but that’s ok. Sometimes you can win it with small ball, sometimes you need to just go for that base hit or move a runner over. We just have to keep that energy up and focus on ourselves as a team.”