By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Anderson, Mo. — With a perfectly timed dive and the unmistakable awareness of a senior, Morgan Doyle silenced the cheers from the McDonald County crowd just seconds after Jaylie Sanny cued the noise by ripping a one-out line drive to center field in the bottom of the seventh.
Doyle read the ball perfectly off the bat, making a diving catch in the wet McDonald County outfield grass, popping up and gunning out a retreating Paige Jones at first base for the game-ending double play and an Ozark win, 5-2.
CLICK FOR OZARK VS. MCDONALD COUNTY PHOTO GALLERY
*NOTE: (View highlight video above for Doyle’s game-ending double play).
“I wasn’t expecting [Jones] to be that far off the base, so when I saw the opportunity to get her out at first, I got really excited,” Doyle said. “We had played a good game and I knew this would be a great ending. The adrenaline was pumping and it was just exciting.”
All those thoughts in just a split second? That’s the type of quick decision making and awareness that has gotten this Ozark team within one win of the Class 4 Final 4. The Tigers (25-6) will host Blue Springs South (25-4) this Saturday. The Jaguars topped Camdenton Thursday, 7-3.
“After [the double play], I ran to [fellow-senior] Bre Johnson,” Doyle said. “We’ve grown up playing softball together and I’m just thrilled to celebrate with her. We have an awesome group of girls and I’m excited to see how far we can get.”
McDonald County struck first on a Hannah Schmit RBI single off Ozark starter Brooke Pridgen, driving in Cloee Helm for a 1-0 lead in the third inning. But the Mustangs wouldn’t score again until the sixth inning, facing a 5-1 deficit at that point.
“I thought our girls played excellent,” Ozark head coach Yancey Little said. “Offensively, I thought we hit the ball hard right on the nose. We played some small-ball and put some pressure on them. Capitalized on some mistakes. We played well defensively and made plays all day.”
Pridgen kept the Mustangs’ lineup off-balance with a good mix of off-speed pitches and a dominant changeup, allowing seven hits and striking out seven over the complete-game effort.
“She’s not gonna overpower teams,” Little said. “You know you have to be ready to play defense. Sometimes, you get that power pitcher that might strike out 10 or 11. With us, the ball is gonna be in play quite a bit. When Brooke is hitting her spots and her changeup is on, that makes her so much better. Tonight was one of her better-pitched games.”
An Emma Taylor single and Tara McCormack groundout put Ozark up, 2-1, in the fourth. The Tigers extended that lead to 3-1 on a Nya Morgan sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Taylor would score on a McDonald County error in the sixth. The Tigers would go up 5-1 one batter later on a Johnson sacrifice fly, scoring Ashlie Marshall.
The Mustangs looked to rally in the sixth after a Kylie Helm leadoff triple, but would only manage to get Helm home after Pridgen got Whitney Kinser to ground out, Kali McClain to fly out and Aubrie Dunn to strikeout, in order. Kylie Helm was the only Mustang with two hits. (Five finished with one hit).
“We hit some balls hard right at people,” McDonald County coach Skylar Rawlings said. “But we hit some soft balls and didn’t have some great at bats at times. Didn’t make a few adjustments when we needed to. But that’s taking nothing away from Ozark. [Pridgen] pitched a great game.”
Paige Jones pitched another good game for the Mustangs after shutting out Republic for the district title last weekend. Jones allowed five runs (two earned) over seven innings, striking out six. The three unearned runs, on three Mustangs errors, ended up being the difference.
“The biggest part of this game was who was going to execute the best,” Rawlings said. “They did a great job of executing bunts and executing defensively and we didn’t. We had some wild throws. Some errors. Paige gave us a chance to win in the circle and we didn’t execute some plays, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Four different Tigers drove in runs and five different Tigers scored. Harmon’s two hits led the team.
“This is my funnest group I’ve had in 16 years, as far as coaching,” Little said. “They’re having a blast.”
