By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
A week before the tournament begins, the Webb City and McDonald County softball teams both came into Monday seeking the No. 1 seed in Class 4 District 6.
With one swing of the bat, the Cardinals laid claim to the top spot as Webb City downed the Mustangs 1-0 on a walk-off homer by Peyton Hawkins.
“Very exciting ending to a really good game,” Webb City coach Shauna Friend said. “We knew that it was going to be a battle going into this game. We knew with districts it was going to be the battle of the one seed in districts. Two great pitchers battling it out in the circle. It came down to Peyton getting ahold of that one pitch.”
Hawkins, the junior shortstop, came to the plate with one out in the bottom of the seventh and lined a 2-1 pitch over the wall in right-center field; she was promptly carried to the dugout by junior catcher Kaylyn Gilbert.
The home run was just the third hit of the game for Webb City, which improved to 22-2 with the win. That was enough with senior Haidyn Berry in the circle; she tossed a one-hitter and struck out 11 batters in seven innings while throwing 54 of 73 pitches for strikes.
McDonald County junior Madeline McCall added 11 strikeouts herself.
Friend wasn’t surprised Monday’s contest turned into a pitcher’s duel.
“I expected us to hit a little bit better,” she said. “We’ve been hitting the ball well all season so I did expect us to hit a little bit but you’ve got to give credit to their pitcher, she did a great job.”
It was “absolutely” the kind of game the Mustangs’ Heath Alumbaugh was anticipating.
“I think going into it we knew what Madeline’s capable of,” he said. “We know what Berry’s capable of. I think everybody had to kind of think it could be this.”
The Cardinals, despite just two hits in the first six innings, stranded eight baserunners. They wasted a two-out single by Berry in the first and left runners at second and third in the second after drawing a pair of walks. Both times McCall ended the inning with a strikeout.
Hawkins reached on an error in the third, Berry was intentionally walked and junior Emalee Lamar was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Again McCall dug deep and struck out the next two batters to escape.
Webb City stranded two more in the fifth. Junior Emma Welch reached on a single and Berry was walked. This time a strikeout and a fielder’s choice ended the threat.
“We did strand quite a few,” Friend said. “We were able to get some runners on with walks and hit by pitch and a couple hits but yeah, we needed some timely hits there and we didn’t get them. That’s the game.”
The Mustangs’ only baserunner came in the third when junior Adasyn Leach singled to lead off. She was stranded on second.
Freshman Nevaeh Dodson almost put McDonald County ahead in the top of the seventh with a deep fly ball to center field. Webb City senior Alyssa Jennings caught the ball up against the fence.
The game was something like déjà vu for McDonald County (17-3), which suffered a 2-0 loss to Logan-Rogersville last week. McCall struck out 15 in that game but the Mustangs lost a pitcher’s duel on a home run in the sixth inning.
“Kind of the same story,” Alumbaugh said. “Two great pitchers in the circle, battling. Zero-zero through six and a half. Those are games you’ve got to feel either team can win when it comes down to it and they got us there.”
“We’ve just got to continue to work, get better and hopefully we get them again,” he said.
“You want a game with a lot of pressure and the girls really came through under the pressure,” Friend said. “That’s exactly what you want going into postseason so it was a good game, a good game for us and a good game for Mac.”
