By Shelley Ebberecht
Fair Grove won the battle of the Groves on the softball field Tuesday as the Lady Eagles took down the Mountain Grove Lady Panthers, 5-2.
Taylor Bell’s two run shot over the fence gave the Lady Eagles a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Fair Grove scored its final run with an RBI single from Tristin Cross that sent Lorin Weaver home in the same inning.
Bell finished the night 2-for-4 with two RBI, a home run and a double for the Eagles. She said she tries not to get too far ahead of herself when she’s in the batter box and just take it one pitch at a time.
“I try not to think about it too much whenever she’s pitching and just try to get the bat on the ball,” Bell said. “That one I just put it on really well. And it was cool to have my teammates at home plate because we’re such a big family and we all support everyone on the team.”
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Shyan Proctor went 2 for 3 with a stolen base. As the starting pitcher, Proctor threw 7 strikeouts and 4 walks over 7 innings allowing 2 earned runs.
Mackenzie Gardner scored the second run for the Panthers with a two-out homerun in the top of the third inning. But the Panthers couldn’t get anything else going on offense and fell to 14-4.
“We’ve talked about starting off from pitch one and we did exactly what we came out to do, excluding the W,” said Mountain Grove coach Lori Hyde. “Overall the effort was good, but we can’t have those errors and be successful.”
Gardner went 2-for-3 for Mountain Grove with a single and a homerun. Laci Collins gave up four earned runs and two walks with four strikeouts on the mound for the Panthers.
Next up, Mountain Grove will face Fordland on Thursday and Norwood on Friday, both at Mountain Grove, before entering District play next week.
“I feel like these high pressure games, looking at rankings and reviews, are setting us up for success in the future,” said Hyde. “I look for us to hold our own and do well in the districts.”
Fair Grove, now 13-4, is two games down and two games left to play in this final week of the regular season. They will host conference foe Ash Grove Thursday and travel to Seymour Friday.
“This week is a definite confidence booster,” said Fair Grove coach Tara Whetzell. “Last night was a good win to start off our week and tonight Mountain Grove is a very good team, so I think that gives us a good look at what we could see at Districts.”
Mountain Grove 2, Fair Grove 5
Mountain Grove 1-0-1-0-0-0-0—2
Fair Grove 1-0-1-0-3-0—–5
