In a battle of the Groves, the Fair Grove Lady Eagles handily defeated the Mountain Grove Lady Panthers, 13-1, on Monday night. Fair Grove used an eight-run fifth inning to put away the Panthers, highlighted by a bases-clearing triple by sophomore Jordan Coddington.
After two innings, the game was still within reach for the Panthers with Fair Grove holding a 2-1 lead. In the third inning, Fair Grove plated a run to go up 3-1. In Mountain Grove’s half of the inning they loaded the bases with one out but could not get the big hit to score any runs.
“We just couldn’t rally some hits when we needed some key hits,” said Mountain Grove head coach Lori Hyde. “We left some runners on base, bases loaded one time; I think total tonight we left nine on. We just didn’t execute when we needed to.”
After the third inning, Fair Grove’s pitcher, sophomore Shyan Proctor, was on top of her game using her changeup to keep the Panther batters off balance the rest of the game. On the night she allowed just four hits while walking just one.
“Going in tonight I just wanted to get another win and try to play to our best abilities,” said Proctor. “In our warm-ups we weren’t doing so good so we pulled it out. Pitching with a lead, you have to keep your head up and you can’t get ahead of yourself. You can’t say ‘oh, we’re going to win’ you’ve got to keep going and fight through it like it’s a 0-0 ballgame.”
In the fifth inning, Fair Grove hit the ball hard and took advantage of some Mountain Grove misplays, stealing bases, taking the extra base, and even stealing home. The aggressive base running is what Fair Grove strives for, turning doubles into triples and singles into doubles.
“This is the first time that I’ve had one through nine hitters that all are power hitters, that can hit the ball hard, put the ball in play, and I’m just blessed to have them,” said Fair Grove coach Stacy Beckley. “We have been working on being really aggressive and we like to catch people being lazy. If they are lazy, we’ll take advantage of it.”
In the fifth inning, Fair Grove strung together seven hits to plate eight runs. The big hit of the inning came when Coddington hit the bases clearing triple. Junior Lorin Weaver also had a big game, going 3-4 with two RBIs.
“I’ve been kind of in a slump the past few games, not really been hitting very well,” said Weaver. “I just stopped thinking about it and told myself I was going to hit the ball hard. We want to be aggressive; we want to get around the bases. If we get thrown out being aggressive we don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing; at least we’re being aggressive.”
“Fair Grove has got a great pitcher, great catcher, they work hand in hand together and her changeup was brutal,” said Hyde. “We’re going to practice hard. We will see them again on Saturday at the Strafford Tournament. We’ve got to learn to keep ourselves up and stay positive; we got down on ourselves early and they took advantage of that.”
Fair Grove is looking to move up in the power rankings with their 12-5-1 record. With Proctor back from a wrist injury and the offense clicking, Beckley likes their chances.
“Proctor was on her game, her changeup was really good,” said Beckley. “It kept them at bay. She’s been working really hard. She came off a wrist injury and ever since she came off of that she’s done mind over matter and really has put the ball where we need it to go. Mountain Grove is a good team. We played them twice last year and they were both tough games. We knew that’s what it was going to be like tonight but we prevailed. The score surprised me a little bit. I know we are capable of that but in a game like Mountain Grove, you never know what to expect. The girls came through with big hits and we didn’t have many runners left on base, so that’s good.”
Fair Grove 13, Mtn. Grove 1
Fair Grove 021 28 — 13
Mtn. Grove 010 00 — 1
