By Scott Vanscoy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Strafford Lady Indians kept their perfect 25-0 season intact when they defeated the Fair Grove Lady Eagles, 11-0, for the Class 1, District 8 title on Wednesday night. Strafford rode the hot hand of senior Zoey Mullings, as she struck out 10 and only allowed one hit.
In the first inning, Fair Grove had two of their first four batters reach base on a walk and an error, and Mullings seemed rattled. Mullings would bear down and strike out the last batter to end Fair Grove’s threat. In Strafford’s half of the first inning, Mullings hit a two-out double and came around to score on a single by senior Alissa Collette, putting the score 1-0.
Mullings relaxed in the second inning and struck out the side, giving her 500 strikeouts for her career.
“I did not realize it was 500 until I looked out there and was like ‘holy cow!’, said Mullings. “I was so shocked, I couldn’t believe it. It is just an awesome opportunity I got.”
In Strafford’s half of the second inning, they managed to send nine hitters to the plate, scoring three runs on one hit. Fair Grove’s defense and inexperience was starting to play a role.
In the third inning, Strafford got some unexpected pop from the bottom of their lineup when sophomore Taylor Treat hit a bomb off the scoreboard for her first career homerun.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
“It felt great,” said Treat. “That’s my first one, finally. I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. Districts is a great time to do it, too.”
Mullings kept the Fair Grove hitters off balance until the fourth inning, when the Eagles managed to load the bases on a walk, an error, and their lone hit for the night. With two outs, Mullings induced a ground ball to second to end the Eagles’ chances.
Fair Grove never really mounted an effective offense, as they only put five runners on base for the night.
“Zoey did good on the mound today,” said Strafford coach Dale Bean. “She had her rise ball going and she was getting ahead in the count early. Then she would put them away with the rise ball. Just when they thought the rise ball was coming, she threw that change up in there. Just one hit, she kept them off balance all game and she looked pretty good on the mound.”
Strafford began to hit the ball on a consistent basis in the fifth inning. They put the game away when seven of their first eight hitters reached base, scoring five runs to reach the “10 run rule”. The final score was 11-0.
“I told my team that I was proud of them,” said Fair Grove coach Tara Whetzell. “We knew going into it, we are playing Strafford so we can’t have errors, we can’t have mental mistakes, and we’ve got to hit the ball. I thought we started out well but then we made some of those mental mistakes. At the end of the day, I’m proud of them. We started out really rough, a rough season, and our leadership has come a long way, and we’ve grown as individuals. Some of these girls had just come out to play ball and over this year and last my sophomores have really stepped up and actually learned how to play the game. I told them I was proud of our leadership and proud of the growth altogether.”
“It feels good to have a District championship my senior year,” said Mullings. “I was a little nervous at the beginning because it’s my last time going around; I’m not going to play in college or anything, so it was a little nerve wracking for me. I’m just glad we live to see another day.”
Strafford’s District championship continued the school district’s winning tradition in girls’ sports. Looking to defend last year’s spring softball state title, Coach Bean likes his chances this year.
“It feels good to win,” said Bean. “None of them are easy going into. Every time you play a game you’ve got a lot of girls that have worked hard and they go home if you don’t win. They don’t get easier, I’ll tell you that, you still get nervous. We played three games in a row and tomorrow is supposed to be rainy so I’ll probably give the girls the day off to rest. We’ll come in on Friday and see who we’re playing, go over some stuff, and get ready to play on Monday.”
Strafford will take on Thayer (13-6) on Monday, May 7, with the site and time to be determined.
Fair Grove 0, Strafford 11
Fair Grove 000 00 — 0
Strafford 132 05 — 11
