Nothing comes easy in the rugged 33rd softball District.
Ryle and Cooper knew they had battles on their hands, the Raiders taking on Conner while the Jaguars faced Boone County.
The Raiders used timely hitting in an 8-4 victory while the Jaguars took advantage of a couple Rebels errors in a 4-2 triumph.
RYLE 8, CONNER 4
Ryle (15-11) utilized the opposite field often and collected all eight runs with two outs to advance past Conner (11-17).
The Raiders churned out 11 hits, often going to right field against lefties Mollie Sharp and Ellie Ortiz. Laney Schuster and Lerin Moreland had three hits apiece, Schuster with three singles and automatic runs from courtesy runner Kiley Patterson with six stolen bases. Moreland had two RBI with her trifecta of hits.
“Two-out hitting was awesome. We knew that we were gonna get pitches off the plane, so we were prepared for the off the plate stuff and going with the pitch and taking it to right field,” Ryle coach Jarret Goddard said.
Meanwhile, the Cougars struggled to find the timely hit despite collecting nine of them. They left 10 runners on base, six through the first three innings as Ryle and Madison Goddard in the circle avoided the big inning.
“It was a tough season. We had some adversity and a lot of injuries, even tonight with Mollie on a pitch count,” Cougars coach Shawn Sproles said. “The one thing with our program is the fight has never been questioned. We’re always going to go down fighting, we’re going to play for ourselves and to know we lost by just missing on a couple chances, that’s a win for us.”
Keira Holeman got the Cougars started numerous times in the leadoff spot, scoring the game’s first run in the first after Conner hit four straight ground balls in the infield. After Holeman legged out an infield single, she later scored as Jalyn Cain drove her in on a groundout. Holeman finished with a team-high three hits and scored twice.
Ryle knotted things up in the first as Patterson scored on an error after steals of second and third. The Raiders took a 3-1 lead in the second on a Avery Parsons two-run double.
Moreland and Grace Tranbargar added RBI singles in the third for a 5-1 Raiders lead.
Averie Lightner made it 5-2 in the fourth with an RBI double. A two-out error helped Laci DeLauder reach in the bottom half of the frame, scoring Payton Godfrey to make it 6-2.
“I’ve got some serious power hitters on my team and we tend to overswing at times, but we didn’t let that happen today,” Goddard said.
Conner continued to make it interesting, plating two in the sixth as Lightner and Jalyn Cain drove in a run, each collecting two RBI on the day.
Ryle added insurance in the bottom half on a DeLauder sac fly to score Patterson, Goddard drawing a walk and courtesy runner Brooklyn Roland coming around to score on a Moreland single.
Goddard closed things out from there by striking out two to end the game. The Raiders junior pitching the complete game with three earned runs allowed, striking out nine and walking three.
“A lot more pitches than normal, a lot longer at-bats. Strike zone was small today, had to throw it in a coffee can, but Madison did a nice job today,” Jarret Goddard said.
Ryle heads to Wednesday’s championship game, facing Cooper in the title tilt for the second straight year as the Raiders look to repeat.
COOPER 4, BOONE COUNTY 2
Small ball and solid defense got the Jaguars to Wednesday’s championship game.
Despite being outhit 6-4 in the contest, Cooper (19-12) took advantage of three Boone County (11-19) errors and plated three unearned runs while making a couple of standout defensive plays in the victory.
Kendall Blau and Dani Wright dueled it out in the circle, Blau scattering six hits, the lone damage a Kailey Patterson two-run homerun in the fifth inning. Wright gave up four hits and just one earned run.
“Don’t feel the better team won today. You know, people that came to this game and knew nothing about either team might really think that there was an upset today. I felt like today we were the better team. Record-wise they got us beat on the season. It’s a funny game, they come out with the W so it is what it is,” Rebels coach Andy Petridis said.
Cooper got on the board first, Grace Cline’s RBI single in the bottom of the second scoring Sadie James while Cline later scored on an error.
The pitcher’s duel ensued, the two holding the opponent at bay until the fifth when Kailey Richardson’s two-run homer knotted things up at two.
But the Jaguars responded in the bottom half when Ava Scott tripled and later scored on a wild pitch.
“Our bats have slowed down a little bit, got a little cold. We were hot early in the season just hitting our way through games. Now we have to manufacture our way through games. We’ve got to kind of grow up a little bit as a hitting team,” Jaguars coach Rusty Scott said.
Ainsley Scroggie added insurance in the sixth, reaching on an error on a bunt, the ball trickling all the way down the right field line, Scroggie able to race home on the errant throw for the run.
Blau worked around an error in the seventh, going the distance while pitching to contact without a strikeout and four walks.
Wright’s outing was not as fortunate, Cline’s RBI single in the second the lone earned run allowed. After a walk followed, Wright retired eight of the next nine before Scott’s triple in the fifth. Wright finished with six strikeouts and four walks.
“Dani did a great job today. Unfortunately just those couple of little small mistakes on stuff that you hammer over and over and it’s a simple play. Now we’re done on stuff that we do so many times in a week. It’s deflating and a bummer,” Petridis said.
Richardson and Josie Hollingsworth had four of the six hits for the Rebels, Alivia Scott plating the other run on Richardson’s blast.
The Rebels missed a key opportunity in the sixth with runners on first and second and one out as a bunt attempt turned into a double play, the third web gem play for the Jaguars to end an inning. Scott snagged a liner in the third and turned it into a double play at first while Cline’s diving catch ended the top half of the fourth.
“When we needed big plays, we made a couple big plays in the field. Outfield came up big and we put some pressure on them on the bases,” Rusty Scott said.
Scott had two of the four hits for the Jaguars, both going for extra bases.
They’ll now face Ryle in Wednesday’s championship, looking to snap a 3-game losing streak to their district rival and win their first district championship in program history since the program started in 2009.