A lone first-inning run highlighted Nixa's entire offensive performance on Thursday as Ozark (16-5) junior Brooke Pridgen threw six scoreless innings the rest of the way – leading her team to a 4-1 victory over its arch rivals at home.
Pridgen, who has grown somewhat accustomed to having extended troubles in the circle in the first inning this year, came out with an improved mindset to ensure things would be different this time around.
Although she loaded the bases in the opening frame and hit Nixa (8-12) junior Rylie Bennett to force in a run, Pridgen buckled down and worked her way out of trouble to limit the damage.
“I think I come out nervous, so this game, I really tried to come out and just pitch like I would if it were the seventh inning,” said Pridgen. “I think that made a difference.”
The Lady Tigers quickly matched Nixa's first-inning run with an RBI single by senior Bre Johnson in the bottom half of the frame. Ozark would take the lead later in the inning with a Makenna Harmon base hit and tack on additional runs in the third and sixth to provide Pridgen with more than enough run-support.
Despite its ability to score when needed, Ozark still managed to strand eight runners on base – leaving a lot to be desired for head coach Yancey Little.
“It wasn't our greatest offensive performance we've had, but we're that team,” Little said. “Hitting is contagious and sometimes not hitting is contagious. We hit a few hard balls, but not enough.”
The Lady Eagles, however, racked up their stranded-runner total to ten on the night, thanks in large part to an Ozark defense that made timely plays to get its hurler off the hook.
“When I know they can make plays, that makes my job a lot easier,” Pridgen said of her team's defense. “Even if I make a few mistakes, they'll be able to pick me up and that really helped me out.”
The end of the game provided some controversy as Nixa's Shae Milligan popped a ball up in the infield with runners on first and second and two outs in the seventh. While Milligan sprinted toward second base, she impeded the second baseman's path to the ball before it dropped to the ground.
After a brief meeting between the umpires, Milligan was ruled out – immediately sending Lady Eagles' head coach Matt Walker out to dispute the final play.
[The umpires] said [the second baseman] was trying to make a play on the ball and I didn't think she was,” said a disappointed Walker. “We'll leave it at that.”
The loss for Nixa comes two days after the Lady Eagles' collected 16 runs on 20 hits against Carthage just two nights earlier.
“I guess we used [all of our hits] up on Tuesday,” Walker said. “I think we'll get back to driving the ball a little bit. We had some glimpses of putting something together, but baserunning mistakes and stuff like that kind of hurt us.”
Ozark stays home to host Bolivar on Monday, while Nixa turns around quickly to face Aurora and Waynesville in the Springfield Invitational on Friday.
