sportsMay 8, 2024
Lady Indians defeat Lady Eagles, claim C2D1 tourney crown
MALDEN, Mo. - The Kennett Lady Indians showed up here Tuesday for the Missouri High School Athletic Association's (MSHSAA) Class 2 District 1 Tournament championship round prepared for war, fought off a worthy opponent and emerged victorious. The Lady Indians defeated the high-energy, fiercely-competitive East Prairie Lady Eagles 11-1 and returned home fatigued but satisfied, somewhat muddy and displaying a well-deserved title plaque...
MALDEN, Mo. - The Kennett Lady Indians showed up here Tuesday for the Missouri High School Athletic Association's (MSHSAA) Class 2 District 1 Tournament championship round prepared for war, fought off a worthy opponent and emerged victorious.
The Lady Indians defeated the high-energy, fiercely-competitive East Prairie Lady Eagles 11-1 and returned home fatigued but satisfied, somewhat muddy and displaying a well-deserved title plaque.
Unlike the team's two preceding games that ended in very early innings – the Lady Indians skunked the Dexter Lady Bearcats in four innings 15-0 in the tournament quarter final match Saturday and blanked the Malden Lady Green Wave in four 16-0 in the semifinal game Monday – it took six innings for Kennett softball head coach Logan Dollins' team to dispatch East Prairie head coach Jade Lindsey Marcum's squad by the 10-run rule to become the 2024 MHSAA's C2 D1 Tournament champions.
The Tribe took the field in the opening moments of a game delayed an hour by rain that soaked the diamond Monday night, shook off a rocky top-of-the-first defensively and once at the plate, ignited a scoring blaze that moved along steadily toward victory.
Once first-inning jitters subsided, Kennett pitching-ace Handley McAtee dug down and retired East Prairie batters 1-2-3.
Lady Indian Kynsly McCaig, who blasted her only home run of the season Monday against Malden, approached the plate in the bottom of the first and drew first blood by knocking a line drive to left and tossing up two on the scoreboard, 2-0 Kennett.
That was the result of pro-active team-play by what Dollins called “a really selfless group.”
McAtee's first-inning line-drive single to third baseman Chloe Jackson placed her on first, to be sure.
But without Lauren Barton's sacrifice bunt to Jackson that advanced McAtee to second, Hadley Wilson's ground out, again to Jackson that put McAtee on third and Emma Tinnin's hit-by-pitch that resulted with Kennett runners at the corners, McCaig's fireball-hit that scored both McAtee and Tinnin might never had happened.
After Lady Eagles' Harper Marshall's thunderous grounder resulted in a double off a Kennett error and an eventual run, Kennett scored progressively across the board.
Bottom of the second began with a Lynnley Patterson fly out and continued with Olivia Raspberry's swat, a beautiful high-fly to left that placed her on first. Kaydee Taylor walked and Kennett runners occupied first and second. McAtee hit a blazing single to short that scored Raspberry and placed Taylor on second while McAtee grabbed first on a Lady Eagles' error. Lauren Barton hit into a fielder's choice and Taylor made it home, Kennett up 4-1.
McAtee retired the Lady Eagles 1-2-3 to open the third inning and the Lady Indians scoring cycle continued.
Tinnin doubled on a hard-hit line-drive that reached the center-field fence before it was fielded, then took third on a passed ball. Emma Claire Bodkin grounded into a fielder's choice and Tinnin was tagged out on her way home. Patterson, in her second at bat, blasted one to center and Bodkin took third. Raspberry walked, which loaded the bases for Taylor, who with two outs doubled and knocked in Patterson and Bodkin, Kennett 6-1. McAtee in her third at-bat singled and scored Raspberry. Taylor took third during the excitement and Lauren Barton grounded out to close the inning with Kennett on top 7-1.
McAtee in the circle struck out the first and third batters in the Lady Eagles' fourth-inning order. The Lady Eagles second batter grounded out to Raspberry at second.
Kennett's record-breaking RBI winner Hadley Wilson grounded out to second to begin the fourth-inning at bats. Tinnin flew-out to third before McCaig took first on a Lady Eagles error. Bodkin grounded out to end the inning.
That brought up the Lady Eagles, who went down 1-2-3 on a pop out, a bunt to McAtee and a ground out to Raspberry.
Kennett at the plate to finish the fifth began with a Patterson line out to right and a subsequent Taylor single that was followed by a McAtee hard-knock double to center that scored Taylor. Barton smashed a line drive to Lady Eagles' constant-hurler Riley Wilson for the final out of the inning. Lady Indians up, 8-1.
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Top of the sixth and the Lady Eagles crash 1-2-3. McAtee threw a strike out, McCaig fielded a fly for out two and a ground out back to McAtee for what would be the Lady Eagles' final out of the series.
Kennett's tough-as-a-$2 steak Wilson led off the sixth and final inning of the tournament with a single, a line to left, followed by a Tinnin fly out that stranded Wilson on first. McCaig at the plate and Wilson stole second on a wild pitch before McCaig doubled on yet another hot one to center, which allowed Wilson to hustle head-first and perhaps painfully, across home plate. Kennett on top 9-1. McCaig stole third on a passed ball before Bodkin laid down a textbook bunt and beat the throw to first, which left Tribe runners at the corners. Patterson was next to single on a grounder to second, placing Bodkin on second and scoring McCaig. Kennett led 10-1.
Raspberry in her last at bat of the tournament walked while Bodkin and Patterson advance bases. That brought up the Tribe's Kaydee Taylor.
Taylor knocked a warp-speed bouncing grounder past short that brought in Bodkin and that was the game, decided by virtue of the 10-run rule, 11-1.
The Lady Indians finished 23-8 and are predicted to possibly play away at Advance.
“I'm super proud of this team,” Dollins said postgame. “It's been a long season.
“We played 31 or 32 games since March 15,” the head coach noted. “It's been a grind and this has been a great opportunity for us.”
And the Lady Indians coach had nothing but praise for a Lady Eagles team that accomplished so much this season.
“East Prairie has a strong, quality program,” Dollins emphasized. “That team battled their way through the season to make it to districts and boy, it showed today.
“We had to put together some really good at bats and a really good game plan to get after them,” coach added. “Really a remarkable program.”
Indeed. The East Prairie Lady Eagles watched nearly two decades pass since the team made an appearance at such a tournament.
“The last time we were at a district championship was 2005,” Marcum said. “And, it was the only time in our school history.
“We placed second then,” she continued. “Lost to Kelly, maybe 2-1 a girl who was a sophomore then told me. I was a senior.”
Although Marcum is proud of her team, she's extremely proud of its tenacity, it's work ethic and its commitment.
“I'm most proud of the fact that they got here in the first place,” she said of her runner-up squad. “Second to that, the fact that they played nearly a full game against Kennett, the best team in the district says quite a bit. Kennett, with Handley McAtee who is just insane in the circle, and when she's out they're even better defensively, is just a great ball club. There are great, quality players on that team that can just drill the ball, and they found gaps. They come to kill the ball and they're just a great club.”
The Lady Eagles, like the Lady Indians, graduate just two seniors this year, Anna Gilliam and Alison Miller.
The Lady Eagles were on a four-game winning streak prior to Tuesday's game, and finish the season at nearly .500 ball, posting a 14-14-1 season record.
“They are amazing students, and amazing kids,” Marcus added. “All-around.”
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