Joplin erased an early deficit and rallied behind a strong start from Brittany Shryock to earn an 11-4 win over Cassville on Monday.
The Wildcats (11-11) scored twice in the first to build an early lead. With the Eagles (7-16) trailing 2-1, Joplin hung three runs on the scoreboard in the third frame to take the lead and added three more in the fourth to take a 7-2 advantage. Joplin added two insurance runs in each the fifth and sixth innings on the way to the win.
“It was a great job by us of hitting with runners in scoring position, which is something we’ve struggled with,” Joplin coach Manny Flores said. “The last couple of weeks we’ve been able to do that. The last three out of four games, we’ve put up double-digit runs on the scoreboard. To see the girls be more aggressive, attacking more aggressively with runners on base is huge for us.”
Shryock earned the complete-game win in the circle, allowing four runs, two earned, on seven hits, a walk and two strikeouts.
“She threw really well,” Flores said. “She threw strikes and commanded her pitches. If we clean some things up defensively, she probably throws a shutout today. I thought she did a great job of not letting things outside her control affect the way she pitched and attacked in the circle today. I thought she did an excellent job.”
Alyssa Whisenhunt took the loss after giving up 11 runs, seven earned, on 14 hits, four walks and two strikeouts.
Trailing 2-1 in the last of the third, Liz Snider got the offense rolling with a one-out triple down the line to right field. Madisyn Tracy followed with an RBI single to right field to tie the game at 2-2. In the next at-bat, Tatum Stogsdill tripled to the gap in right-center to score the go-ahead run. Abby McGinnis brought home Stogsdill after following with an RBI groundout to put Joplin on top 4-2.
“We did an excellent job of having an approach with runners in scoring position,” Flores said. “We attacked earlier in the count to give our pitcher the lead. … Doing that offensively carried over and allowed us to settle into the game.”
The Eagles pushed the lead to 7-2 an inning later when Izzy Yust hit a ball past the right fielder before rounding the bases and scoring for a three-run inside-the-park home run. Bailey Ledford, who singled to lead off the inning, and Jill McDaniel, who reached on an error, both scored on the play.
“That was a huge play,” Flores said. “She was sprinting out of the box from the get-go and going hard. Being able to tack on after getting a lead is showing our growth this season, and it was nice to see.”
Joplin added two runs in the fifth. Reece Schroer, who doubled in the win, and Ledford both came home to score on separate fielder’s choice plays to make the score 9-2. In the bottom of the sixth, the Eagles scored twice to extend the lead to 11-4, highlighted by an RBI single from Ledford. Tracy, Stogsdill and McGinnis singled in three consecutive at-bats to start the inning.
“Like we’ve preached to them, once you have a lead you can’t just sit on it,” Flores said. “It doesn’t matter who you are playing. It’s high school softball and anything can happen. We are very capable of giving up a big inning ourselves. So, to be able to continue to tack on, it really does damage to other teams and hurts their confidence to get them playing on their heels a little more. It also allowed us to stay aggressive at the plate and that was huge.”
STATS
Ledford led the Eagles with four hits, three runs scored and two RBI. Tracy had three hits, two runs scored and an RBI, while Snider and Stogsdill, who scored a run and drove in one, each finished with two hits.
UP NEXT
Joplin hosts Neosho at 4:30 on Tuesday.
