By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Crane, Mo. — Sectional tournament games aren’t supposed to be this easy. That’s what makes Purdy so scary.
The Lady Eagles pushed their win streak to 18 games with a 15-0 final in three innings Monday in Crane behind three no-hit innings by Hallie Henderson and a pair of three-hit efforts from Rion Boyd and Mickey Schad.
Schad finished 3-3 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs out of the 7-hole, summing up Purdy’s depth during the game and its confidence after it.
“This game was just a stepping stone to get higher,” Schad said. “We got that done and we’re off to the next step.”
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Schad, Boyd and Casey Ellison all finished with three RBIs for Purdy, giving Henderson more than enough run support in a nine-strikeout effort after building a 4-0 lead after the first inning.
“Whenever you have your team score four runs in the first inning it really just makes you calm and realize there’s nothing really to worry about because they’re going to do it for me at the plate and do it behind me,” Henderson said.
Henderson allowed one baserunner over three innings, hitting Eryn Akin with a pitch in the second.
“We do realize that as the postseason goes on things are going to get harder,” Henderson said. “We’re preparing for that because we’ve been in the position where we lose out before getting to the state tournament and it wasn’t fun and it’s a feeling we don’t want again.”
Boyd opened scoring with a single that she pushed to third after an error, scoring Zoe Brown. Boyd knocked in Brown again with two outs in the second inning, pushing Purdy’s lead to 6-0.
A one-out double by Schad started a nine-run third inning for the Lady Eagles. Schad would get a second hit that inning after Purdy batted around without Crane recording a second out, knocking in two and pushing the Purdy lead to 15-0.
“We started out the season really good and then we hit a lull. Now we’re starting to get back up and start doing some things,” Purdy head coach Lori Videmschek said.
“When you go through the course of the season you have so many games, and you don’t get a lot practice time. We needed to get back on the practice field and work a little bit on some fundamental stuff and that’s what we did and today it paid off.”
For Crane, Monday’s loss ended a season highlighted by the program’s first district championship since 2010.
“They have nothing to hang their heads about,” Crane head coach Hannah Keith said. “We were just proud of them for getting this far.”
Despite Purdy’s dominance, the Lady Pirates came into Monday loose and hopeful of pulling a major upset.
“They knew Purdy was good but we tried to drill in their head that they’re beatable,” Keith said. “At this point in the season the records are 0-0. You’ve made it this far so everybody starts out fresh and that’s what we were trying to get in their minds. I truly believed we had a shot today.”
Just two of Purdy’s 15 runs were earned due to five Crane errors.
UP NEXT
Crane: The Lady Pirates graduate catcher Eryn Akin, center fielder Sadie Burk and infielder Ryan Mauck. With seven starters returning including sophomore pitcher Olivia Edwards, it probably won’t be seven more years until Crane’s next district title.
Purdy: Now in their second state quarterfinal in three years, Purdy is on the verge of reaching the spring softball Final Four for the first time in program history. The Lady Eagles will host Pierce City (22-4) at 4 p.m. on May 11. Purdy beat Pierce City 6-1 in the Pierce City Invitational on April 1.
