Cape Girardeau Notre Dame holds off Platte County 4-2

Source: The Star

Jim Barcus | The Kansas City Star

In Friday’s Class 3 semifinals, Platte County’s Molley Cantu was tagged out by Cape Girardeau Notre Dame’s Jane Morrill.

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ST. JOSEPH | Cape Girardeau Notre Dame took advantage of frequent errors and raced past Platte County 4-2 in Friday’s semifinal round of the Missouri Class 3 softball championship at Heritage Park.

The same two teams had met in the 2008 state title game, and Platte County won 7-1. This time around, it was the Bulldogs on top, thanks largely to five errors committed by the Pirates.

“We didn’t feel like we played too well last year (against Platte County),” Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviette said. “That’s not to take anything away from them. They had a good game plan for us a year ago, but we wanted to show them that we’re a better team now than we were then.”

Notre Dame took an early lead after Alecia Glaus’ second-inning walk against Platte County starter Haley Pypes. Glaus took advantage of wild attempts to pick her off at first and third base, and reached home safely. The Bulldogs extended their lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning when Savanna Ayers executed a bunt that brought Lauren Reinagel home from third. The next batter, Summer Burger, singled to left and scored Glaus.

“We let a couple of opportunities go early in the game, and they used that to score some runs,” Platte County coach Rob Davenport said. “They’re incredibly, incredibly fast, which we knew coming into it. When they get on base, they’re tough to defend.”

Mallory Siebert singled to center with the bases loaded, giving the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead.

Platte County tried to rally. Sydney Reynolds tripled deep to right field in the bottom of the sixth. She walked home thanks to a home run to left-center by Brianna Corwin. However, that’s as close as the Pirates would get.

“I told the girls, ‘Three of the four teams that come here are going to get a loss, but only one of them has two,’ ” Davenport said. “They have an opportunity to finish the season out on a win (today), so that’s what we’re going to focus on now.”

Platte County will meet Republic in the third-place game at 5 p.m. today, and Notre Dame will play Kirksville for the state title at 1 p.m.

Oakville 7, Kearney 5Kearney couldn’t overcome an early deficit in Friday’s 7-5 loss to Oakville in the semifinal round of the Missouri Class 4 softball championship.

The Bulldogs found themselves in a big hole when Remy Edwards connected on a three-run home run in the first inning. In the second inning, the Tigers’ Maggie Ruckenbrod singled and drove in Danie Famam. Julie Kemen added another three-run homer that gave Oakville a commanding advantage.

submitted by DANNY STOOKSBURY - 2009-10-23 22:06:01