With one of the best pitchers in Class 2 on the mound for Bowling Green, Wright City players knew they had to be almost perfect in Monday’s Class 2, District 6 championship game in Elsberry. And …
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With one of the best pitchers in Class 2 on the mound for Bowling Green, Wright City players knew they had to be almost perfect in Monday’s Class 2, District 6 championship game in Elsberry.
And for four innings, the Wildcats (13-12) nearly were.
Senior pitcher Maddy Webb matched Bowling Green’s Sarah Harness zero-for-zero on the scoreboard until the fifth inning, when the Bobcats hit back-to-back home runs to take a decisive 3-0 lead.
With Melissa Locke warming up behind the Wright City dugout, Head Coach Fred Ross decided to stay with Webb.
“Not really,” he said when asked if he considered removing Webb. “She missed a couple spots. That second home run, the catcher just hit a good pitch and barely kept it fair. The other one didn’t quite get up enough, but she’s a senior and I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt. She pitched really well tonight.”
At the plate, the Wildcats could never figure out Harness, who finished with a no-hitter.
“She’s really good, and we knew she was really good,” Ross said. “I think we put six balls in play, and only one of those was close to being a hit. She was on. Her changeup was on and she was throwing hard. We swung at a few pitches out of the zone, but overall I thought we had some pretty good at-bats. We had some eight- and nine-pitch at-bats, so the girls were really battling against her.”
The Wildcats’ first runner came when Kaitlyn Baxter was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning.
Leadoff hitter Brook Moore had the team’s first hard-hit ball the following at-bat, but it was placed immediately in front of the Bowling Green left fielder for the third out.
“We took the approach that we had nothing to lose today,” Ross said. “We knew they were good because we’ve seen them before, and we were the third seed, so we weren’t supposed to be here to begin with. We played pretty well against them for 5 1/2 innings, so I was really proud.”
Bowling Green advanced to play Metro High Wednesday afternoon at St. Louis University.
“When they’re on, they’ll be tough to beat,” Ross said. “I expect them to win in the next couple of rounds. They’ll have to get through North Callaway, but with the good pitching and good catching, they’re a team that can go far.”
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