By Don Eskins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
After four innings of play neither the Ozark Lady Tigers, nor the Blue Springs South Jaguars, could manage to push a run across the plate as the two teams battled in quarter-final round action of the Class 4 state softball tournament in Ozark Saturday afternoon.
But, in the top of the fifth, the Jags took control of the clash scoring three times to set the stage for a 5-1 victory over a very game bunch of Lady Tigers.
The Jags, 26-4, now move on to compete in the state semi-finals later this week. The Tigers, 26-6, will be packing things up and thinking about next year.
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“We’ve been talking about getting to this point of our season since last summer,” said Jaguar head coach Kristi Williams. “We knew we were going to have a good team and we’ve worked really hard to not think too far ahead. We’ve been taking things an inning, a strike, an out and a game- one day at a time. These girls have worked so hard to get here, they’re an amazing group of kids and I’m just so very proud of them.”
A single up the middle by the Jag’s Aubrie Munoz ignited Blue Springs South in the top of the fifth. Munoz went on to steal second base and then was driven in on a two base hit by Madison Crosslin. Crosslin would go on to score on a passd ball to put the Jags up 2-0.
A walk by Bailey Fowler and an RBI single off the bat of Madi Hecker pushed the Jag’s lead p to 3-0. Blue Springs added another run in the top of the sixth to go out in front of the Tigers 4-0 as Ozark came to bat in the bottom of the inning.
The Tigers mounted, what proved to be, their only score in the game in the sixth.
Morgan Doyle reached first base safley after beathing out a bunt. She was followed by Makenna Harmon who singled to center-field, and then scored on an RBI single by Tiger catcher Nya Morgan.
The Jag’s pushed one more run across the plate in the top of the seventh then shut the Cat’s down in the bottom half of the frame to grab the 5-1 win and punch their tickets to the state semi’s.
On the mound for the win was Blue Spring South’s Sydney Righi. The hard throwing right hander gave up just one run on seven hits. She struckout two.
“She threw really well for us today,” said Williams. “She had kind of a rough start during the district championships. So it was great to see her bounce back the way she did today.”
Taking the loss was Ozark’s Brooke Pridgen. Pridgen gave up five runs, four earned, on eleven hits and five walks. She had two strikeouts.
“She did a really good job of keeping us off balance,” the Jaguar coach said. “She’s a very good pitcher, and Ozark a very good team.”
Head Tiger coach Yancey Little felt his girls played well dispite the loss.
“Our kids played hard and we had our chances,” Little said. “Blue Springs was just a little better today.”
“But our girls have had a great season,” the Tiger coach went on to say. “There’s a lot of teams sitting at home today that would have liked to be playing like our kids today.”
Ozark seniors Morgan Doyle and Bre Johnson felt the same.
“I feel like we exceeded everybodies expectations this year,” Doyle said. “We’ve played better ball this year than we did today, but the Jags just hit the ball better than we did. But even with the loss I’d say we’ve had an awesome season.”
“I’ve really had a lot of fun this year,” said Johnson. “We knew how to make the game that way. That’s what I’ll remember most about this year.”
Box Score
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
Blue Springs 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 5
Ozark 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Leading hitters-
Blue Springs South: Aubrie Munoz 2-2 (RBI), Madison Crosslin 2-3 (2B-RBI), Madi Hecker 1-3 (RBI), Makenzie Musgrove 1-4 (RBI), Eden Tolliver 1-4.
Ozark: Nya Morgan 2-3, Bre Johnson 1-3, Morgan Doyle 1-4, Makenna Harmon 1-3, Emma Taylor 1-3, Ashley Marshall 1-3.
