Murray softball ends postseason at Creston

The Murray Lady Mustangs entered postseason play last Wednesday at Creston against Lenox in the Class 1A region 6 quarterfinal. With historical matchups from 2007 forward against the Lady Tigers having Murray leading 27-9, and a 10-2 win over Lenox in June, the Lady Tigers roared past the Lady Mustangs 14-6 to advance to the next stage of state play.

The game began with Lenox up to bat first. Madison Henrichs took pitching duties first for Murray, walking the first Lenox pitcher and allowing a single on the second pitcher. A grounder by Sadie Cox allowed her to reach first base on an error by Maliya Berry at shortstop and allowed Zoey Reed to score Lenox’s first run of the game. A fly-ball by Piper Brokaw was caught by Gracie Mathes, who threw the ball in to catcher Karina Romero who tagged out Izzy Curtis on her advancement to home. The sixth Lenox batter up struck out.

Leah Frederick stepped up to the plate to bat first for the Lady Mustangs. She had a strike followed by a foul and three balls before strike three was called. Aylah Miller batted next and struck out swinging. A fly-out hit by Keirsten Klein was caught by Reed to end the inning.

The second inning had Hadlee Christensen walk to first, and three subsequent batters out on catches in the field. Berry struck out and a home run hit by Romero put the first run on the board for Murray. A ground ball hit by Paisley VanWinkle had her to first on an error and then second on the same error. Mathes hit a fly ball that allowed her to advance to second with VanWinkle on third. A strike out by Henrichs brought Murray’s outs to two, and a fly ball by Presley VanWinkle was caught by Cox for three outs.

Lenox would go on to score seven runs in the third inning through a series of advancements, steals and errors that allowed them to keep moving around the diamond. With passes loaded, Brokaw ground out to Berry on the pitcher’s mound and was out at first.

Murray started back at the top of their batting rotation, with Frederick striking out. Miller singled to one, and Klein walked. With Berry up to bat, her fly-out to the second baseman had her out and Miller out on advancement to third.

Presley took over pitching in the fourth inning, striking out all three of Lenox’s batters. Romero and Paisley both got out on hit balls, and Mathes made it to first on a single before Henrichs ground out on her turn at bat. The top of the fifth had Lenox put up three runs with Murray adding five in the bottom of the fifth - one by Mallory Page and a home run hit by Romero brought in Frederick, Klein and Berry.

Lenox tallied their final three runs in the sixth inning. Miller ground out when up to bat with Klein hitting a single. Berry ground out and Romero was intentionally walked to first with Klein on second. A hit by Paisley was managed by Lenox’s pitcher for the team’s third out and end of the game.

Murray finished their season 14-9.

July 9: Lenox 14, Murray 6

MURRAY (6) 0-1-0-0-5-0

27 AB, 6 R, 9 H, 6 RBI, 5 BB, 5 SO, 2 HR, 6.0 IP, 7 H, 14 R, 9 ER, 12 BB, 6 SO.

LENOX (14) 1-0-7-0-3-3

27 AB, 14 R, 7 H, 8 RBI, 12 BB, 6 SO, 6.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 5 SO.