Finding itself trailing several times against Republic on Tuesday at the JHS Athletic Complex, Joplin softball didn’t waver in the face of adversity and rallied several times before walking off for a 9-8 win over the Tigers in Central Ozark Conference and district action.
“First off, credit to Republic because they just don’t go away,” first-year Joplin coach Brenden Schneider said after the win. “They’re a well-coached team that made the most of every opportunity they were given. That is a really good ballclub.
“For us, I kept telling the girls they needed to have some grit and find a way, when things aren’t going our way, to win a game. Actually, yesterday, we had a talk before practice and we told them it was great that they’ve won nine in a row, but the game is going to show you some adversity at some point. What is that going to look like and how are you going to react? … Most importantly for me—(they) were there to pick each other up. If someone made a mistake, someone was there stepping up and finding a way to make it happen. That has been the theme for our season. We are a family and we pull for each other.”
The victory is the 10th straight for the Eagles, who improved to 16-2 (3-0 COC) on the season and haven’t taken a loss since the opening game of the Paige Neal/Christina Freeman Invitational on Sept. 2. The 16th win of the season also matches the win total for all of last year, and the Eagles still have more than 10 games remaining on the schedule.
“Last year, Coach (Manny) Flores did such a good job of getting these girls into a position where they expected to win,” Schneider said about the confidence his girls are playing with this season. “That is huge for us. These girls go out every single day and know that if they play hard, hit and give it our all, we are going to put ourselves in a position to win, and that is what happened tonight.”
IN THE CIRCLE
Senior Jill McDaniel earned the complete-game win in the circle for Joplin after allowing eight runs, five earned, on five hits, seven walks and six strikeouts in seven innings.
Freshman Piper Dishman took the loss for Republic after allowing nine runs, six earned, on 13 hits, four walks and eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
ONE LAST RALLY
After Republic plated three runs, two unearned, in the top of the seventh to tie the game up at 8s, Joplin was looking for its third rally of the game. Who better to turn to than sophomore Maria Loum, who already had a two-run double and two-out single to kick off the Eagles’ rally in the fifth. Loum tallied her third hit with a bunt single to get things started.
“What an X-factor having her down there (in the No. 9 spot),” Schneider said of Loum’s impact. “She just has the ability, when it’s crunch time, to just get on base. She is always right there in the thick of it. She always seems to be either hitting someone in or getting on base, and she is just a weapon on the basepaths with her speed.”
Junior Bailey Ledford followed with a single through the right side and sophomore Jadyn Pankow was intentionally walked two batters later with runners on second and third with one out to load the bases. Facing a 2-2 count, sophomore Riley Kelly lined a single off the second baseman’s glove and into center field to play Loum for the walk-off victory.
“It is pretty impressive to watch these girls work at the plate right now,” Schneider said about watching his team constantly battle back in its walk-off win over Republic. “Their approach was really good tonight. They made sure they weren’t chasing a whole lot tonight and were trying to go the other way with it. Look at the game-winning hit—it was a base hit to the right side.”
TRADING BLOWS
Republic got on the scoreboard first in the top of the second inning after sophomore Lili Richerson drew a walk to put runners at the corners with one out. Richerson took off from first in a steal attempt and after the throw down to second, sophomore Addison Walker broke from third and scored before the return throw—which was wild—to home arrived, with Richerson taking third in the process.
Richerson touched home two batters later on a two-out RBI single from junior Graci Woods for a 2-0 lead. Woods stole second and wound up scoring after a pair of throwing errors by Joplin to cap the Tigers’ three-run second inning.
Joplin rallied with two-out magic in the bottom of the second inning after Loum doubled home a pair of runs on a hard ground ball to right-center to trim the Eagles’ deficit to 3-2.
The Eagles came all the way back in the third inning after sophomore Abby Lowery led the inning off with a single before Pankow went opposite field in the next at-bat with a line-drive double to right-center field to plate the runner from first to tie things at 3s.
Joplin took the 4-3 lead moments later after loading the bases later in the frame with one out before Kirsten McMillen hit a hard ground ball to second, which was bobbled, allowing the go-ahead run to score as McMillen was thrown out at first.
RepMo put on a rally of its own in the top of the fourth after using a hit-by-pitch and two walks to start off the inning, which led to a pair of runs scoring for a 5-4 advantage. The first Tigers’ run scored on a passed ball, with the second coming home on a sacrifice bunt from Woods.
Joplin refused to go away, loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth before Kelly brought home the tying run with a groundout to second to make the score 5-5.
The Eagles used two-out lighting once again in the last of the fifth inning when Lowery singled up the middle with two strikes to score Loum, who had a two-out single up the middle to start the rally, giving JHS a 6-5 lead. After a second run scored on a wild pitch later in the inning, Pankow singled to left to plate the third tally of the inning for an 8-5 advantage.
The Tigers didn’t make it easy on the Eagles, scoring three runs on one hit, three walks, a hit-by-pitch and an error to tie the game at 8-8 in the top of the seventh. Two of the runs coming home were unearned.
AT THE PLATE
Ledford had two hits and scored two runs, while Lowery had three hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Pankow finished with three hits, two RBI and a run scored to give the first three batters in the Joplin’s lineup a total of eight hits, five runs scored and three RBI. Loum went 3-for-4 at the plate to go along with her two runs and two RBI, while Kelly had a hit and two RBI and McMillen had a hit and an RBI.
ON DECK
Joplin continues its conference slate with a home game against Ozark on Thursday.
