By DANA HARDING, Reeds Spring, MO – A highly-anticipated district showdown has finally materialized between the top two teams in the Class 3, District 11 tournament.
West Plains (21-6) and Logan-Rogersville (17-8) advanced through the semifinal round Thursday night and are set to meet in the title matchup this weekend.
West Plains – 10, Hillcrest – 3
In the early game, West Plains looked to Abbey Gann to set the early tone in the circle. The junior ace didn’t disappoint. Gann notched a career-high 16 strikeouts to help propel the Lady Zizzers to a 10-3 victory over Hillcrest. The junior right-hander bested her previous mark of 15 set against Van Buren earlier this season. Despite getting a pair of strikeouts to start the game, Gann wasn’t as sharp as she’d hoped in the early innings, but the Zizzer bats jumped out to an early 3-0 lead to allow ample time for adjustments between innings.
“I was having trouble getting my front foot down and keeping the ball low,” Gann said. “I fixed the mechanics and got it working again. Any time you can get momentum going with me, it just helps me so much.”
While Gann kept Hillcrest’s hitters at bay for most of the game, the Lady Hornets did give her problems in the fifth and cut the West Plains lead to 6-3.
Haley Frillman parked a left-center bomb for two runs, and Jessica Ganzer hit a sacrifice fly to drive in a third. Hillcrest enjoyed a brief momentum shift, but the Lady Zizzer bats weren’t finished. Alyssa Sims’ big triple in the sixth inning drove in two of West Plains’ four runs to close the door on the Hillcrest rally. Sims went 4-4 on the evening with 3 RBI to pace the top seed. West Plains head coach Don Long “We kind of struggled a little bit at the plate,” Long said. “Bases loaded, nobody out, and we couldn’t score, but we just kept pounding and working. We’re a bunch of blue-collar kids, and we just keep fighting.”
Long also was quick to praise his ace’s performance in the circle.
“She’s … she’s pretty good,” Long said. “She had a little trouble getting ahead on some batters, but when push comes to shove, she’s pretty tough.”
Logan-Rogersville – 7, Reeds Spring – 3
Scoring early can be crucial in the postseason, and Rogersville took head Coach Denny McHenry’s advice to heart.
The Lady Wildcats put runs on the board in each of the first four innings en route to a 7-3 victory over Reeds Spring. After defeating the Lady Wolves 12-4 two weeks ago in the regular season, the host team wasn’t nearly as accommodating this time around. Down 3-0, Reeds Spring came roaring back to tie the game in the top of the fourth, when Maddie Walker and Maddison Cantrell drove in runs on back-to-back hits. As many good teams do, Rogersville wasted little time responding in-kind.
After an error allowed Hayley Brown to score, Julia Marshall smacked a two-out double into left to dive in a second run for the ‘Cats. McHenry was pleased with his team’s quick response.
“The big thing for us was coming back after we gave up those three runs,” McHenry said. “We came back and scored two. They helped us out a bit, but it’s survive-and-advance in the postseason. That’s what it’s about. You can’t dwell on one bad inning, because there’s no tomorrow.”
Rogersville ace Hunter Bledsoe finished with three strikeouts and scattered four hits on the evening. Both Rogersville and West Plains now look to Saturday’s 12pm final to find out which team gets to see another tomorrow in the sectional round.
