CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — The home Carl Junction Bulldogs and the visiting Webb City Cardinals battled scoreless through the first four innings before erupting for a combined 14 runs in a 10-4 victory Tuesday for the Cardinals against their conference and district rival.
The Cardinals broke through and scored first with three runs in the fifth, then plated two more in the sixth and five more in the seventh for a commanding eight-run advantage.
Carl Junction scored two in the fifth and two in the seventh.
The Bulldogs missed their opportunities to score first Tuesday — Hannah Cantrell was called out for interference in the first negating a run, Kiley Spencer was picked off at first after reaching on an error to start the second, a Hannah Cole bunt turned into a double play in the third, and Carl Junction left the bases loaded in the fourth.
Webb City sophomore Rylynn McFarland made one of the biggest plays in the game when her strong throw home from right field kept Sammie Sims at third in the fourth.
The Cardinals then never looked back after they started the scoring the next half-inning.
“Overall, defensively, we did a good job of keeping them in check and keeping their runners from scoring,” Webb City coach Shauna Friend said. “We still have a lot of work to do, both offensively and defensively. It was good to see the bats get going the last couple innings. That’s good motivation for us going into the rest of the season. This being the first conference game, it was good to come out with a win. Just keep getting better every day is our goal.”
Webb City improved to 4-5 overall and 1-0 in the Central Ozark Conference. The Cardinals return to action Thursday on the road against conference and district foe Willard.
Webb City enters Willard on a three-game winning streak, and the Cardinals, who have a starting lineup featuring four juniors, two sophomores and four freshmen, are making strides early in the season.
“A lot of the girls are getting some confidence, since basically nobody’s been a starting varsity player until our first game of the season,” Friend said. “It’s going to take them a little time to get the experience they need to be confident on the field and at the plate, but they’re doing a great job. Very pleased with the conference win, and just ready to keep playing and improving throughout the year.”
Dawsyn Decker and Sydney Strickland each led Webb City’s 14-hit attack Tuesday with three, Kylee Sargent, Liz Rhuems and Jensyn Pickett each had two, and Lily Hall and Alex Maturino each added one.
Decker drove in four runs, Sargent added three RBI and three runs scored, and Strickland also scored three runs.
Carl Junction dropped to 3-3 overall and 0-1 COC. The Bulldogs return to the field Wednesday on the road against Big 8 school Cassville.
“I was telling the girls afterwards that it could have gone one way or the other it seemed like early,” Carl Junction coach Zak Petty said. “We left too many people on base. We made a couple untimely errors. That’s not like us. We kept chipping away and coming back but missing that first run and getting it called back on an interference call, that’s a tough break.
“We battled well. Again, that’s a learning experience and it’s tough. When it’s a rival, you’ve got a little more emotion going on. Overall, pretty happy with it and there’s some things we can definitely clean up, for sure.”
Cantrell and Ryleigh Palmer each led Carl Junction with three hits, Sims and Madi Olds each had two, and Spencer and Izzie Southern each added one.
Spencer drove in two runs, Palmer and Southern each picked up RBI, and Sims scored twice and Cantrell and Palmer once each.
The teams, which only included one senior among their 20 varsity contributors Tuesday, combined for 26 hits.
