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By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Rogersville — On a night where senior ace Abbey Gann didn’t have her best stuff going, West Plains turned to a freshman in the clutch.
Taylor Cecil’s 2-out RBI single in the top of the sixth broke a 1-1 tie and helped pace the Lady Zizzers to a 3-1 victory over Logan-Rogersville.
“It was a lot of pressure and pretty nerve-wracking,” Cecil said. “Maybe [the pitch] was a little high, but it was good to hit. It just feels really good to be able to get that hit on a team that I love.”
Cecil went 2-2 on the afternoon with a pair of singles and a sacrifice bunt.
West Plains head coach Don Long praised the right fielder’s clutch performance.
“Taylor Cecil had a really big hit for a freshman,” Long said. “And our bottom really played well today. She’s a nice kid that works hard; kind of a tough kid that gets out there and battles. I think she’s going to be pretty decent down the road.”
The boost was all Gann needed to hold down the Rogersville bats in the final two frames, allowing only a single baserunner.
Throwing her fifth game in four days, the Lady Wildcats’ ace wasn’t quite as sharp in the circle as usual.
When you’re one of the best pitchers in the Ozarks, however, not quite as sharp is still good enough.
Long credited his senior leader for continuing to battle through innings.
Gann’s line included seven hits, six strikeouts and one walk in seven innings of work.
“She threw four games this weekend,” Long said. “That might have been part of it, but she’s a pretty tough kid; she beared down when she had to. I’ve got a lot of confidence in her doing what’s right.”
The game was scoreless until Abbi Thompson’s RBI single in the top of the fifth scored Alaina Vick to give West Plains a brief 1-0 lead.
Rogersville answered in the bottom half of the inning when Taylor Williams drove in Lori Vedder.
The Class 3, District 11 rivals split the last two district title games in 2015 and 2016 and are no strangers to tight ball games.
Lady Wildcats head coach Denny McHenry knew the contest could hinge on a single play or two.
“Against a team like that and a pitcher like that, you kind of figure it’s going to be a close game,” McHenry said. “We had some opportunities and didn’t cash in on them. Five of our first six outs were strikeouts, and then we had nine pop-ups. Their right fielder made a couple really good catches … but when you face good teams, you figure they’re going to make those kinds of plays, and your margin for error becomes really, really slim.”
After a quick turnaround, both teams are back in action Tuesday. Rogersville (3-2) travels to Norwood, while West Plains (5-0) heads to Camdenton in a bid to avenge its lone conference loss in 2016.
Varsity Final: West Plains – 3, Rogersville – 1
West Plains 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 — 3
Rogersville 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 — 1
Hits: West Plains – 6, Rogersville – 7
Errors: West Plains – 2, Rogersville – 3
LOB: West Plains – 7, Rogersville – 6
RBI: West Plains – 2 (Abbi Thompson, Taylor Cecil), Rogersville – 1 (Taylor Williams)
WP – Abbey Gann, LP – Hunter Bledsoe
Time of game: 1:45
