Lady Tigers dominate in district title game, 11-1

So much for the nerves.

The top-seeded Nevada High School softball team, two days after surviving some early jitters in its Class 4 District 7 semifinal win over host Harrisonville, obliterated no. 2 seed Warrensburg in the championship game Friday afternoon, 11-1.

“It was great. Today was the game Coach Wolfe and I have been waiting for all year,” said NHS head coach Danny Penn, whose Lady Tigers showed no signs of butterflies in their stomachs for this one, scoring four runs in each of the first two innings and forcing an early pitching change before eventually walking it off with a run-rule victory in the fifth. “There was a big celebration at home. We set this goal at the beginning of the season, so I’m incredibly proud of all their hard work to accomplish it.”

Penn credited Wednesday’s win — which started off with Harrisonville hitting a leadoff home run, but ended with a seven-run victory — with preparing his predominantly youthful squad to play on the biggest stage of district softball.

After watching Warrensburg beat St. Teresa’s Academy in the other semifinal game on Wednesday, Nevada put together a game plan at Thursday’s practice, and then executed it to perfection on Friday.

“Wednesday helped us get used to the field and the atmosphere, and for the freshmen to get their feet wet. They realized they could handle it, that they were going to be fine. And they played really well,” said Penn, whose freshman ace Peyton Eaton escaped an early jam in the top of the first unscathed before senior leadoff batter Bailey Ast set the tone for Nevada’s offense with a double in the home half of the frame.

After Ast stole third, sophomore Skyler Burns singled to send her home for the game’s first run (and Nevada’s first of many). Junior Kirstin Buck drove in Burns with a double, before sophomore Kara Phillips got in on the action with a double of her own, scoring Buck and senior Claire Pritchett (who had walked).

Pritchett drew another walk in the second inning, this time with the bases loaded to score freshman Caylee Holcomb. That forced Warrensburg (16-11) to change pitchers, but the Lady Tigers (20-10) kept scoring when Buck bunted in Ast, Phillips hit a sacrifice fly to score Pritchett, and Eaton drove in Buck with a base hit.

Warrensburg nearly broke through in the third by loading the bases, but Eaton was able to shut it down and leave all three runners stranded. The opposing Lady Tigers scored their only run in the fifth inning — but Nevada responded by scoring three more in the bottom half of the frame, highlighted by a walk-off double by Pritchett, to earn the win and advance to the Class 4 quarterfinals (which the Lady Tigers will host on Thursday at Bushwhacker Field, either against Excelsior Springs or Platte County).

“We didn’t say anything about the run rule, because we didn’t want to take our foot off the gas pedal,” Penn said. “The things we’ve been practicing all year, they did a great job of executing tonight.”

Eaton threw all five innings and struck out four on four hits. She also had two hits with her bat, as did Ast, Burns, and Buck.