Haile Farris is slotted as Camdenton's No. 3 starter. That should be scary for the rest of Class 4. The sophomore handled a good Pleasant Hope lineup with ease Thursday night to push her scoreless innings stretch to 13 to begin the season and her record to 3-0 as the Lakers put away the Pirates 10-0 in 4.5 innings.
Camdenton (8-1) scored one in the first inning before a seven-run second that was highlighted by a no-out three-run bases-clearing triple by leadoff hitter Kristen Carpenter gave the Lakers an 8-0 lead.
Farris allowed one hit in the first inning but was nearly untouchable after, retiring 13 of the last 14 batters she faced and striking out three over five innings. With three starts under her belt, she's struck out 22 in 13 innings to go along with a 0.00 ERA and .462 WHIP.
PLEASANT HOPE VS. CAMDENTON PHOTOS
"I just prepare myself," she said. "I've played a lot of travel-ball games that have prepared me for high school. I've faced a lot of good players and good teams."
Sophomore Fayth Rakes doubled in the seven-run seventh, finishing the night 3-3 with three RBIs. Rakes is one of three Lakers batting over .500 this season (Shelby Webster: .560; Kylee Compton: .500), not to mention another two with at least 20 at bats hitting over .400 (Kelly Uthe: .460; Erin Rasmussen (.410). That hitting depth has propelled Camdenton's lineup to a .441 team batting average and 100 runs in nine games.
"[The coaches] have been working with our hitters a lot, and they're just hitting the ball well right now," Camdenton coach Rick Calbert said. "They're just squaring everything up. I don't go anywhere near them when I'm coaching third base, because when they start pulling the ball foul, it's a war zone."
Add that lineup to Camdenton's pitching depth and there aren't many teams who are going to slow down the Lakers. Top starter Uthe has struck out 21 in 20 innings to go with a 2.10 ERA, and No. 2 starter Compton is 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA, .786 WHIP and 25 strikeouts in 14 innings. Uthe confirmed after the win that she's committed to play softball next season at Highland Community College in Kansas.
Would Calbert commit when asked if he has a best pitcher? Of course not!
"I know it's a cliche to have 1A and 1B pitchers, but I think we're even more than that. We're 1A, 1B and 1C. We're blessed with pitching right now. Just hope it stays healthy."
If it does, Camdenton could have the state tournament in sight with the Alphabet Trio on the mound.
"It's our ultimate goal," Farris said. "We just have to practice and be confident in ourselves and work together. I think we can do it."
"A lot of things have to go well to make state," Calbert said. "You have to be peaking at the right time. We're hoping this is the start to the peak, and not the peak. You've got to stay away from injuries. We're lucky we have a bunch of players who put the team first. That's hard to get. It's a great group of kids. We're going to give [state] a run. To say we think we can get there? I don't know. You've got to have a lot of things rolling your way."
Katelyn Stewart and Ellie Lane singled for Pleasant Hope, with Lane starting on the mound. Tough task.
"We come down here to Camdenton and we knew it was going to be tough," Pirates coach Kevin McVey said. "They're a great team. We just hoped for a little bit closer outcome."
McVey said Camdenton could be the tougest team his group will see all year, and he could be right. McVey will be able to answer that better after his group gets a shot against Rachel Rook and Republic at next weekend's Ozark Fall Festival tournament.
Even with today's loss, Pleasant Hope is sitting at 5-3 and is in the midst of a strong start to the season.
"We've beat Iberia twice so far this season. They've been our toughest 2A competition the last two years. In our wins, it's been a team effort. Good pitching. Good defense. Our defense has really come along, and hitting wise we've been getting hits up-and-down the lineup."
Calbert praised the Pirates as well.
"Pleasant Hope is a really good team," he said. "It's just hard when the ball is getting hit that hard. It makes it hard to field. They're a lot better than the score indicated."
Pleasant Hope: 0-0-0-0-0
Camdenton: 1-7-0-2-X
