Kearney, Blue Springs, Harrisonville triumph in Missouri sectional softball

Kearney pitcher Kat Barrow wasn’t nervous during the final outs of the Bulldogs 1-0 victory over Oak Park.

If she had been, it would have been completely acceptable.

The Bulldogs held a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the seventh inning, but a leadoff double followed by a sacrifice bunt and a walk put Lady Oakies on first and second with just one out and the No. 3 and 4 batters coming to the plate.

“We’ve had situations in the past that had prepared us for situations like this,” Barrow said. “We played confident and just played our game.”

The confidence paid off. Barrow struck out the final two batters to send Kearney to the Missouri Class 4 softball quarterfinals at 11:30 on Saturday at Adair Park in Independence.

Those strikeouts were her 16th and 17th of the night. Barrow allowed just one hit and had only five balls put in play all night.

As calm and cool as Barrow was, her coach wasn’t.

“I was kind of biting bullets there after the leadoff double,” coach Paul Lorbert said. “The second out of the inning was the biggest. It took a lot of pressure off. That third out, well, she just took things into her own hands and took care of things.”

Kearney got its lead in the bottom of the sixth after Lauren Demint reached on a single to left field. She advanced to third on a throwing error and then scored the game’s lone run when Barrow’s come-backer to the pitcher was bobbled, allowing Demint to score.

The Bulldogs, 24-5, play Blue Springs in the quarterfinals.

Oak Park finished the year 16-10.

Blue Springs 8, Belton 0The offense got started quickly for Blue Springs, and that’s all the Wildcats needed.

Blue Springs defeated Belton 8-0 in a Missouri Class 4 sectional.

“We came out and hit the ball real well in the first inning,” Blue Springs coach Roger Lower said. “We had a double and two triples, then we ran ourselves out of a couple other runs.”

At the end of the first inning, the Wildcats led 3-0. Pitcher Kelsey Kessler gave up just one hit for Blue Springs, 28-0.

Belton ended its season 24-5.

Harrisonville 3, Warsaw 1Harrisonville used a strong middle of the game to pick up a 3-1 victory over Warsaw in a Missouri Class 3 sectional game.

After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the fourth, Harrisonville used an error to score two runs in the bottom of the fourth.

The Wildcats advanced to Saturday’s Class 3 quarterfinal against Platte County at 10:30 a.m. at Adair Park in Independence.

At 17-14, the Wildcats have begun playing some of their best softball at the end of the season.

“The kids are actually enjoying themselves,” coach Kayla England said. “It’s just a total different atmosphere now. At the beginning of the year, we weren’t playing well as a team. One person isn’t winning the games for us now. It’s a whole team thing.”

Platte County 3, Chillicothe 0Leadoff hitter Brianna Corwin scored in the first inning for the Platte County softball team, and the Pirates never looked back.

Both Corwin and Sarah Elliott scored in the top of the first inning on the way to a shutout win for the Pirates, 27-3, over Chillicothe in a Missouri Class 3 sectional game.

Neither team would score again until the seventh, when the Pirates tacked on another run.

This marks the second straight season the Pirates have reached the Class 3 quarterfinals.

submitted by COLE YOUNG - 2008-10-16 23:24:01

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