By Scott Vanscoy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
(Forsyth, MO) – The Purdy Lady Eagles defeated the Forsyth Lady Panthers, 3-0, in the first round of the state softball tournament on Monday evening. The Panthers (22-4) came into the game averaging 10 runs per game but the Eagles (24-5) used the strong arm of sophomore Lauren Schallert and the quickness of senior McKenzie Renkoski to shut them out.
St. Louis Cardinal fans know of Enos Slaughter’s famous “Mad Dash to Home” during the 1946 World Series. Renkoski will go down in Purdy softball history for making her own “Mad Dash” to score the final run of the game.
Purdy’s leadoff hitter, Kinsley Mattingly, started things off by drawing a walk in the first inning. Renkoski then sacrificed her to second and she would score on Kylie Wood’s RBI single. A double by Bayleigh Robbins scored Wood, giving Schallert all the runs she would need.
Schallert kept the Forsyth batters off balance the whole night by spinning the ball tightly. She struck out six and walked just one batter. She allowed her defense to work for her.
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“My movement pitches, they were working good,” said Schallert. “They were fouling them off, getting routine ground balls and pops ups and my defense was working behind me.”
One of the key defensive plays of the night was when centerfielder Renkoski made a diving catch in the outfield.
“Renkoski got a good read on that line drive,” said Purdy coach Lori Videmschek. “I thought it was down and I looked up and she come running in and I just said ‘keep on coming coming coming!’ That was huge; if she’d let that ball drop that probably skips and they probably score two runs off that.”
In the top of the fifth inning Renkoski led off with a single and Schallert followed with a single up the middle. Renkoski made her mad dash to home, running through her coach’s stop sign.
“I panicked because I messed up so I just ran as fast as I could and it worked out,” said Renkoski.
“I was having her come to third, anyway,” said Videmschek, “and I saw she was coming and I just waved her and I could tell she wasn’t in a position to slide. She just hit the bag and took off running. It wasn’t called and she went because everybody was up here and nobody was at home plate and so she was able to do it. I guess when you have speed you can do that.”
With Schallert on cruise control with a three run lead, she only needed to get the final nine outs of the game. Forsyth got a few hits but couldn’t string anything together until the seventh inning. In the seventh, Forsyth had two runners on with their leadoff hitter up and two outs. Schallert induced the ground out, giving Purdy the 3-0 win.
“I just thought, I need to get that last out and we are Sectional champs,” said Schallert. “It feels awesome.”
Forsyth coach Collin Lyeria couldn’t be more proud of his girls’ season.
“We’ve hit all year, that’s the first time we’ve not scored runs all season long,” said Lyeria. “I think the pitcher did a nice job of keeping our bats at bay. Defensively, I like what we did, we had a couple of errors here and there, we hit the ball at times but we just couldn’t string them together. I think maybe at first we were trying to do too much with it and by the time we adjusted to it, it was just too much. All year long we’ve had those moments where we didn’t play so hot but knew we were going to score runs. It felt like maybe at the end of the game the kids were waiting around for that to happen and we just didn’t do it. This season we had the most wins in program history, won the Mount Vernon tournament for the first time, and the Forsyth tournament for the first time in a long time, and we stole a share of the conference. The kids played well. We are super young; we lose one starting senior in the field and two in the lineup, and we’ve got good things coming.”
Videmschek was complimentary of her team’s efforts in a pressure-filled game.
“This one was tough,” said Videmschek. “We played them earlier in the year and we played awful. Today we came out and we played our game like we needed to play. Lauren pitched a great game and my assistant coach called a great game. Our defense played well behind her. We came in knowing what we had to do at the plate and we jumped on them early and I think that’s the difference in the game. I’m proud of them, they came out today and they played their hearts out. I’ve only got one senior starting for us and one junior and we are mostly sophomores and freshmen. It feels good; it means I’ve got a lot to work with the next few years. I’m not ready for that right now, though. We are going to get ready for Mount Vernon tomorrow but tonight we’re going to get something to eat and have a little fun.”
Purdy 3, Forsyth 0
Purdy 200 010 0 — 3
Forsyth 000 000 0 — 0
