It was a pitcher’s duel in every sense of the term, with top-seeded Raymore-Peculiar defeating second-seeded Neosho 5-0 in the Class 5 District 7 title game on Monday at the JHS Athletic Complex.
After three scoreless innings, the Panthers used a trio of consecutive hits and an error by the Wildcats to push across two runs to take the lead. Pay-Pec added insurance with a single tally in the fifth inning and two more runs in the sixth while holding off Neosho the rest of the way en route to the win.
“It wasn’t our cleanest game defensively, but at that point, it kind of doesn’t matter if you don’t score any runs,” Neosho coach Catie Cummins said. “I thought Beclynn (Garrett) and Addy (Hart) both had hard-hit balls, but we just weren’t able to string anything together. (Kelsie Donaldson) kept us off balance. … It was a game of inches. … Our girls battled and I am very proud of them.”
Neosho closes the season with a 26-7 record as the Central Ozark Conference champions and graduates one senior—Kylie Flewelling.
“Looking back on the year, I told the girls they can be disappointed, but don’t leave feeling like we didn’t have a good season,” Cummins said. “It is hard to put into perspective. We are a young group with three juniors making up almost all of our upperclassmen. I think we will come back next year with a little more gusto in understanding what it takes to win. We challenged them early and were so tough on them and they came back every day ready to work knowing our expectations. It is just a great group of kids.
“We told them yesterday that they are still one of 16 teams still playing in Class 5, and we are one of the smallest Class 5 schools. To hang, and to beat a lot of them, is something to be proud of. Now, we know what it takes to beat (the top teams in Class 5) and they will be ready to go. I am so proud of what we accomplished this year and hope we can take it one step further next season.”
Ray-Pec advances to the quarterfinal round of the Class 5 state tournament and takes on Liberty on Saturday.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Neosho’s Beclynn Garrett smacked an opposite-field double to the gap in right-center field with two outs in the top of the fourth inning to get a runner in scoring position in the Wildcats’ favor for the first time in the game.
Carleigh Kinnaird followed with a sharp grounder up the middle snagged by Ray-Pec pitcher Kelsie Donaldson, who threw over to first for the final out to get out of the jam.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Panthers found life with the bats with consecutive singles from Carmen Boxberger and Donaldson to lead off the frame before Hayden Kurtz followed with a third straight hit, a single up the middle to plate the game’s first run.
An error with two outs on a fly ball to the outfield by the Wildcats allowed the second run, unearned, to score in the inning.
Neosho led off the top of the fifth with a double down the third-base line but failed to advance the runner in the next three at-bats to end the threat.
“She just does a great job of working it outside of the zone but making it look good enough to be in the zone,” Cummins said of Donaldson in the circle. “She did a good job of mixing it up and down, too.”
Boxberger added an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the fifth inning to push the lead to 3-0.
The Panthers added two more runs in the sixth inning on a two-run double by Kendall Johnson to push the lead to five runs.
IN THE CIRCLE
Donaldson struck out 17 Wildcats and scattered two hits over seven innings to earn the complete-game shutout win for the Panthers.
Kinnaird was saddled with the loss after allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits, three walks and five strikeouts in six innings.
“I thought Carleigh threw well,” Cummins said. “She had a couple of hard-hit balls and there were some errors that led to some extra runs. I don’t think she should be disappointed because she threw well to give us a chance if we scored some runs behind her.”
