Local teams struggle at Clarke tourney
It was a rough Saturday in Osceola for a pair of Clarke County teams at the Benson Softball Tournament.
Clarke and Murray went a combined 1-4 on the day and finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in the eight-team field.
Clarke received a bye into the semifinals when first-round opponent Vinton-Shellsburg could only play two games during the day to avoid going over the maximum number of games allowed during the regular season.
The Indians faced Southeast Warren in the semifinals. Both pitchers, Carrie Kindred for the Indians and Kacey Arey for the Warhawks, were in control much of the game.
It was a scoreless tie until the bottom of the fifth, when Breanna O’Tool reached on an error, made it to third on a Kelli Ehrhardt sacrifice bunt and scored on a passed ball, for a 1-0 Clarke lead.
The Warhawks knotted the score in the sixth, but Kindred was able to work her way out of a bases loaded jam without any other damage.
Neither team was able to push a run across in the seventh, so they went to extra innings with the international tiebreaker, where the batter who made the last out the inning before starts the next inning on second base.
SEW took its first lead of the game in the top of the eighth with an RBI single. The Indians got their chance to score in the bottom of the inning, but base runner Kimber Gibbs could get no further than third base before the third out was recorded, in a 2-1 SEW victory.
In the third-place game, the Indians dropped a 6-3 decision to Moravia, to finish fourth. The Indians stand at 6-19-1 on the season with the pair of losses.
MUSTANGS FINISH SEVENTH
SEW took down both Clarke County squads, as Murray fell to the Warhawks in the opening round, 11-1.
Tessa Otto had a triple and Jessica Halls a single for Murray’s only two hits of the game off Arey. Ashleigh Neal allowed five earned runs in three innings for the loss.
In the consolation semis, the Mustangs faced Vinton-Shellsburg and dropped a 7-2 decision to the Vikings.
Neal allowed one earned run and struck out two in four innings of work for the loss. Otto had another triple and Rote drove in a run.
“Our pitching gave up 13 hits and we couldn’t get outs and they did a good job of running bases,” Murray Coach Danny Jensen said. “We did leave the bases loaded in the third, or it may have turned out differently.”
The Mustangs ended the tournament on a high note, with a 10-1 victory over Orient-Macksburg for seventh place. Murray fell behind 3-0 in the third, but scored six times in the fifth and four more in the sixth to pull away.
Neal allowed two earned runs and struck out five for the win. Otto had two hits and three RBIs, Neal added two hits and two RBIs and Amber Rider drove in one Mustang run.
“Tessa Otto caught all three games and did a great job,” Jensen said. “She had four hits, two triples, one double and three RBIs.”
The Mustangs improved to 9-15 on the season with the win.
INDIANS TIE LAMONI
The Indians were involved in a rare tie June 23 in Lamoni. The two teams were deadlocked at 3-3 when the weather stopped the action. It will not be concluded, so it goes into the books as a tie.
Shultice allowed one earned run on six hits and struck out three. She also had two hits and an RBI, while Josey Ellis and Eddy also drove in one run each.
Clarke fell to 0-7 in the South Central Conference with a 12-0 three-inning loss at Chariton Thursday night in their lone league game last week.
The night before at Melcher-Dallas, the host Saints handed the Indians a 7-3 defeat.
Brooke Shultice allowed four earned runs on four hits and struck out four in six innings of work for the loss. Kimberly Eddy drove in a pair of runs, while Presley Joss had two hits and scored a run.
MUSTANGS EDGE SAINTS
Murray moved to 3-4 in the Bluegrass Conference with a wild 7-5 win over Mormon Trail Friday night in Humeston.
The Mustangs led 4-0, but the Saints scored four times in the third to knot the score.
Murray took the lead with a run in the fifth and added two more in the sixth for the win.
Neal allowed one earned run and struck out 11 in the win. She also had two hits and an RBI, while Otto had a pair of RBIs.
Murray scored a 2-1 win Thursday night at home over Lenox. The Tigers jumped on top in the first inning, but the Mustangs scored runs in the fourth and seventh innings for the non-conference victory.
Neal struck out 10 and allowed five hits for the win. Halls went 3-for-3 with an RBI and Caitlyn Weir drove in a run.
The night before in Murray, the Mustangs handed Moulton-Udell a 4-3 loss.
Neal picked up her 50th career win by striking out eight Eagles and driving in the winning run in the eighth inning.
The week began in Leon with a 2-0 loss to Central Decatur. Neal scattered five hits in six innings and struck out three in the loss. Neal and Weir had the team’s only two hits.
