The host College Heights Christian Cougars and the visiting Jasper Eagles battled to the final pitch during their game Monday at the College Heights Athletic Complex.
College Heights junior Maddy Colin and Jasper junior Grace Osborne were in control for most of the contest, with College Heights opening up the scoring with two runs in the first and Jasper tying it up with one in the second and one in the fourth.
College Heights senior Lauren Ukena and freshman Allie Stout, though, made sure there would be no extra innings in the bottom of the seventh.
Ukena worked a walk against Osborne to lead off the seventh, stole second, and scored on a Stout walk-off single for a 3-2 College Heights victory.
“I’m super proud of them,” College Heights coach Mike Howard said. “Jasper has a really good team. You tip your cap to them. There’s a reason they made it to the (Class 1) state championship game last year. They have a great coach over there in Coach (David) Osborne and their pitcher, his daughter, she’s a really good pitcher. She kept us off-balance a lot today, and you could tell it was a pitchers’ duel today. She’s got an array of pitches, and she did an amazing job. They played a great game.
“Super proud of Allie. First-year player, never played the game before, coming through in that moment. It’s just a big-time moment for her.”
Winning pitcher Colin allowed two runs (both earned) on four hits and she finished with 11 strikeouts and one walk in her seven innings of work. She pounded the zone with 67 of her 88 total pitches counted as strikes.
“Maddy is one of the best,” Howard said. “She’s just so consistent day in and day out. We can always rely on her to get the job done. She didn’t strike out as many tonight, but it’s a testament to Jasper and their hitting abilities. We’re going to have games like this where we have to rely on our defense to make plays. I’m glad that Jasper gave us that opportunity.”
Osborne took the loss and she allowed three runs (all earned) on four hits with five strikeouts and three walks over six innings.
Jayli Johnson led College Heights with two hits, while Kloee Williamson and Stout each had one. Johnson, Williamson, and Ukena each scored a run and Stout delivered one of only three RBI in the game Monday.
Johnson and Williamson led off the home first with consecutive singles and worked their way around the bases for an early 2-0 lead.
The Cougars’ speed played a direct factor in all three of their runs Monday.
“We have some girls that are really fast on our team,” Howard said. “Any time we can get them on base, we’re looking to be aggressive on the basepaths. We will put them in motion quite often to put some pressure on the other team and maybe they’ll make a mistake. Fortunately, we were able to take advantage of that in the first inning. We needed every run, so our girls did a great job on the bases and I’m proud of them for that.”
Jasper senior Mercadez Scott hit a RBI single in the second, bringing home Shiloh Storm after she reached on the only walk Monday against Colin and advanced to second on an Osborne sacrifice.
Jasper junior Gabriella Haddock knocked a triple leading off the fourth and scored the tying run on a Storm RBI single.
Osborne had the other Jasper hit against Colin; an infield single leading off the seventh. Colin, though, settled down and struck out the side entering the bottom of the seventh.
College Heights, who co-ops with McAuley Catholic in softball, improved to 6-0 overall on the season and the Cougars return home Thursday for an Ozark 7 Conference game against Verona. The Cougars will attempt to move to 3-0 in conference play.
“As a team, we needed a game like this (Jasper),” Howard said. “We needed to be in a game against a good team that’s going to be close, and we needed to make plays against a team that puts the ball in play. We’re relying on our defense to make outs. I’m glad that Jasper is on our schedule and can’t wait to play more teams like that.”
