By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
A thesaurus would be helpful in describing Purdy’s three-game sweep of the Class 1 District 5 softball tournament this week in Miller.
Dominant? Commanding? Decisive? All are good descriptions of what the Eagles did in winning a sixth-straight district championship.
There was a 15-0 win against Wheaton on Monday in three innings. Then a 15-0 win against Billings in four innings on Wednesday. And Purdy finished off the week with a 14-0 win against Exeter on Thursday in the title game, which lasted just four-and-a-half innings.
The Eagles recorded 34 hits, 14 walks, nine doubles, two triples and two home runs in the three-game stretch.
And Lauren Schallert tossed three no-hitters, striking out 31 and walking one while throwing just 139 pitches.
“Softball’s a big thing in Purdy and to be able to keep the streak going and keep it alive means a lot to us seniors,” Shallert said Thursday.
“It’s amazing,” Purdy coach Lori Videmschek said. “That’s a tribute to our program and our kids coming in and believing, working hard and wanting to get better each and every year. That’s a standard and expectation we put on ourselves every year, to get to that district championship and win it. I’m super proud of these kids.”
The top-ranked Eagles improved to 27-1 and have won 17 straight. They’ve scored at least 14 runs in six of seven games and have allowed just three total runs in their last 11. They’ll host Hume on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
“Headed to the playoffs is where we want to be,” Videmschek said. “We just want to go out and win and do what we need to do to win a game whether it’s 1-0 or 15-0. Just keep putting pressure on their defense and their pitching and I truly believe this is probably one of our best hitting teams I’ve ever coached at Purdy. One through nine somebody will put the bat on the ball or put the bunt down and run, whatever we need to do.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Seniors Kinsley Mattingly, Jaqualyn Fenske, Bayleigh Robbins and Annabelle Bowman each had multi-hit games against Exeter. Fenske was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs and Bowman was 2-for-3 with two runs and three driven in. Schallert and freshman Jessi Hoppes also scored twice and Robbins and junior Robyn Schad also drove in two.
An error on a grounder by Schad scored one in the bottom of the first. Mattingly doubled in two and Schallert scored a fourth on a sacrifice fly in the second inning. A Bowman groundout made it 5-0 in the third.
Purdy sent 14 to the plate and put the game away with a nine-run fourth inning. An error on a fly ball by Schallert scored one, an error on a Robbins grounder scored another and then Schad singled to make it 9-0. Bowman scored two more with a single to center, and Fenske doubled in two more with a liner to right. Robbins singled to left field for the final run.
It was apparent the Eagles were set on ending the game then and there.
“Yeah, people kept going up to bat and one after another kept getting a hit,” Schallert said. “I knew we were getting close and I was ready to finish the game.”
Videmschek utilized a somewhat new offensive weapon: the bunt. The Eagles bunted at least four times and singled on three of them. The one out advanced a runner to second.
“We haven’t done that all year,” she said. “We’ve been hitting for the fences. We had like 27 home runs for the year so we had been hitting home runs and singles and doubles and today I wanted to put some pressure on them a little bit and get our speed going so we did a bunch of bunting and they just fell apart. We were able to get momentum and some runs. That last inning we came up and were really hitting the ball at the contact point and driving it all over the field. It wasn’t just one kid, it was one through nine today.”
The added pressure led to at least nine Exeter errors in the game.
Schallert, meanwhile, struck out 12 batters in the game. The Tigers had one baserunner in the first when sophomore Emma Sorensen reached on an error after a bunt, but none the rest of the day.
“We play good defense when Lauren’s up there,” Videmschek said. “When they hit her, defensively Annabelle made a good play there. After that first inning we sort of relaxed a little bit and then I believe the other one was when Makenna (Orwig) made that great catch there. Other than that they didn’t really put the ball in play much, which is a tribute to Lauren and what she did moving the ball in and out, up and down and changing speed. Her ball just moves. It’s hard until you get up there and watch it. That thing jiggles everywhere.”
Exeter starter Aubry Antle, a junior, allowed just two earned runs and struck out two in four innings.
Even with the loss, it was a milestone day for the Tigers (13-9), who played in their first district championship game in school history.
“These kids set history tonight,” Exeter coach Ashley Fly said. “That was our goal, to make it to this game.”
“They’re ranked number one in the state for a reason and we knew that when we came in,” she said. “We did some things well and some things that weren’t well but when you play a team 14-0 and you take them five innings, that’s a feat against that team. They’re scoring anywhere from 17 to 20 runs a game so we did some things well. Just to keep them off balance and keep the ball in the park was our goal tonight.”
