By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
MANSFIELD, MO – Plato softball rolled to a fifth consecutive district title in Tuesday’s Class 1 District 4 Championship with a 9-2 victory over Bakersfield.
After putting a pair of runs on the board in the first inning, the Class 1 No. 4 Eagles (23-7) recorded 7 in the third to take a commanding 9-0 lead.
No. 6 Bakersfield (16-6) rallied in the fourth and seventh with a pair of runs; however, it wasn’t enough to overcome Plato’s substantial lead.
Maci Shalbot (1-3) and Leeann Wolfe (1-3) each drove in a pair of runs to lead the Eagles on the afternoon, while Taylor Utley collected the win in the circle.
Utley, a senior two-time, all-state honoree, allowed only 5 hits and recorded 3 strikeouts in the victory. At the plate, she went 3-4 and scored twice.
“(Bakersfield) couldn’t really hit inside very well,” Utley said. “They fought off a lot of inside pitches, so I used that. There’s been a lot of people this year that told us that we weren’t good enough to get here, and we just wanted to come here and prove them wrong.”
Plato head coach Tyler Shalbot praised his team’s resilient nature in the win.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
“I think we’re just scrappy,” Coach Shalbot said. “We use the small-ball game well, we run the bases aggressively and we’re pretty good defensively. We had some miscues today, but we usually pick each other up and make a lot of good plays.”
While Plato’s defense committed 5 errors in the game, Coach Shalbot was confident in Utley’s ability to consistently work out of jams and limit any potential damage on the scoreboard. Both of Bakersfield’s runs were unearned.
“(Utley) was just effective, as she always throws strikes,” Coach Shalbot said. “She’s walked, I think, 18 batters this season. She does a great job throwing strikes. Later on, we started throwing the change-up a little more to try and keep them off balance, and she did a great job with that, as well.”
Bakersfield ends its season with a 16-6 record. The Lions graduate a trio of seniors in Paige Crites, Miley Edens and Keely Stevens.
Crites went 1-3 at the plate and scored both runs for Bakersfield.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE GAME
With the win, Plato moves on to the Class 1 quarterfinal round, where a likely matchup against an all-too-familiar foe awaits in No. 6 Bernie.
The Mules defeated Plato in the quarterfinals during each of the past two seasons.
With Bernie a heavy favorite to win Wednesday’s District 3 title matchup against Bloomfield, another heavyweight showdown looms on May 19.
“I really want to face Bernie, because the last two years we faced them, and we’ve lost them both,” Utley said. “I want me and my team to come in here and prove (Bernie) wrong. We are better than them, and we want to win this.”
Class 1 District 4 Championship: Plato – 9, Bakersfield – 2
Bakersfield 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 | 2 5 2
Plato 2 0 7 0 0 0 x | 9 10 5
