By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD, MO – Less than a week after earning its first-ever final four appearance, Halfway softball fell 10-0 to Gallatin in Friday’s Class 1 semifinal.
Following a fourth-place result in 2023 and a runner-up finish last season, the Bulldogs were competing in a third-straight final four.
With three quick runs in the first inning, Gallatin’s battle-tested experience definitely made a difference, according to Halfway head coach Jody Sharp.
“In the first inning, we were really tense; really, really tight,” Sharp said. “And a team like (Gallatin), they’ve already been here, they’ve already done that. They start off the game a lot more relaxed than what we did, for sure.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Gallatin’s Brynn Bird made a difference of her own, as well.
The senior right-hander was dominant on the afternoon, allowing just two hits and one walk, while striking out 16 Halfway batters.
“(Bird) was definitely moving that pitch back and forth across the plate,” Sharp said. “She had a change-up that was working pretty good most of the time, too. We weren’t making the adjustments to catch up with her – she was a lot faster. Again, she was just hitting her spot and doing a really good job of that.”
While Bird’s dominant performance held the Cardinal hitters at bay throughout the matchup, Sharp praised his team’s resilience and never-quit attitude in the loss.
“If you were to take a group of girls to play a game like this, those are the ones I want,” Sharp said. “I want those girls going with us, and so even all the way into the sixth inning, they were still wanting to fight. They still wanted to win the game. You get into those situations, and that’s all you can ask for at that particular point in time.”
Ashlyn McCarthy, the only Cardinal to reach base, had both hits and the lone walk for Halfway.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE GAME
With the run-rule loss in the books, Sharp and the Cardinals get an opportunity to quickly rebound with an evening third-place game against Princeton.
“That’s going to be a lot on these girls and our team leaders to be able to get ourselves back into that,” Sharp said. “Into that mode of wanting to play this next game with as much heart and effort as we just did. It’s going to be hard. We’re going to give them a minute to kind of let that one go, and then we’re going to try to dig back in and win that next game.”
Class 1 Semifinal: Gallatin – 10, Halfway – 0
Halfway 0 0 0 0 0 0 x | 0 2 4
Gallatin 3 0 0 0 4 3 x | 10 9 0
