The Mountain Grove Lady Panthers were looking to repeat as district champions in their second season of spring softball.
But the Plato Lady Eagles overpowered the former champs 12-2 Wednesday night to bring home the Class 1, District 7 Championship.
“We came out with the expectation to win,” said Lady Eagles coach Justin Copley. “We are a young team, but we always have that expectation.”
The host team was first on the board, with Grove’s Allison Cavillo leading off with a double and later scoring on an RBI single from Colbee Anderson.
But the second inning proved to be the deciding factor in the game, as the first eight batters for Plato reached base in an offensive explosion, scoring 8 runs in the frame.
In the sixth, Abbey Penley led off with a double. Four more hits, including doubles by Penley and Hannah Breedlove, would follow and score the game-sealing runs for Plato.
Plato hurler Kaitin Garrett struck out 8 Lady Panthers, and the heart of the Lady Eagles’ batting order went 8 for 11 with their 3-5 hitters.
“Our pitcher, Kaitin Garrett, is a freshman,” said Coach Copley. “She did a great job today. Our catcher is also a freshman, and our fielders did a good job backing her up, and that’s important in the game of softball. Hitting was at its best for us today.”
Mountain Grove head coach Lori Hyde also complimented the performance of Plato’s pitcher. “You can’t take anything away from Garrett,” she said. “She’s a good pitcher, and we had some times that we should have made some plays and we ended up with some errors that cut pretty deep. We were hoping for a repeat, but the girls had one of the best seasons that they ever had and I’m very proud of them. We’ll be back next year.”
The Lady Panthers end their season with a 15-8 record.
“Our girls kept their heads in it,” said Coach Copley. “We worked hard throughout the season and it paid off today. We’ve got some things we need to fine-tune and we will do that, but we’re definitely looking forward to Monday.”
The Lady Eagles will face Clever in the sectional round on May 9. Their record currently stands at 18-2.
Mountain Grove 1 0 0 0 1 0 — 2
Plato 0 8 1 0 0 3 — 12
