By Scott Vanscoy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Camdenton Lakers won their second straight District title on Friday night by run-ruling the Lebanon Yellowjackets, 10-0, on a walk-off homer by junior Faythe Rakes. The Lakers were led by junior Haile Farris, who dominated in the circle and at the plate. She allowed just two hits while striking out 13. At the plate she went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBIs on the back of a grand slam.
“I feel like I did pretty well,” said Farris. “We all came out strong and I pitched really well against a good team. I worked my hardest. When I hit the home run, I didn’t really know it was going to be a grand slam, I thought it was going to hit the fence. It went out and it felt good.”
Lebanon’s leadoff hitter, senior Avery Hlavacek, started the game off with a double. Farris struck out the next two but then she walked two batters to load the bases. With bases loaded and two outs, the Yellowjackets saw their threat to score erased when Farris struck out the next hitter.
The second inning is when Camdenton did most of their damage. Junior Emma Uthe rocked a one-out home run against the wind to put the Lakers on the board. Camdenton batted around in the inning thanks to two Lebanon errors, a hit batter, and a walk. Farris came up to bat with two outs and bases loaded. She hit a fastball over the left field fence, her third grand slam of the season. Camdenton ended the inning with a 7-0 lead.
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After the second inning, the game turned into a pitchers’ duel, with Farris allowing just three base runners in the remaining four innings. Lebanon pitcher Kaylee Keen used her defense to get through the next three innings, allowing just three hits.
Lebanon could not touch Farris until the sixth inning, when they managed a single and two walks to load the bases with no outs. Farris struck out the next three Yellowjacket batters to end the threat.
“I was just thinking that I’ve got to buckle down and do whatever I can to get some strikeouts or some outs,” said Farris.
Both coaches were impressed with Farris’ performance.
“Haile is a difference maker, she does a heck of a job,” said Camdenton coach Rick Calbert. “In the sixth inning, when she loaded the bases and then struck out the next three… I guess they wanted to make it exciting but it’s hard on an old coach when they do that! Striking out 13 in a District championship is a lot, and it was against a quality team like Lebanon.”
“We ran into a hot pitcher tonight,” said Lebanon coach Stanley Crum. “She’s a fantastic pitcher and tonight she was on fire. When she’s pitching like that, she’s hard to beat; she’s the best around when she’s throwing like that. In the sixth inning I thought maybe we had a chance. Last night in the same type of situation, we unloaded. It happens, this game is real funny. You can show up one night and knock the cover off the ball; show up the next night and a girl will shut you right down. She had that ball moving, that’s what she’s known for, and her velocity was up today. That’s what really did it.”
In the bottom half of the sixth inning, Shelby Webster and Farris reached on short fly balls that managed to find a hole. That is when Rakes would walk it off with a three-run homer to right field.
“It feels amazing!” said Rakes. “I was trying to do whatever I could to help out my team. I tried to hit the ball hard and it went out. I was just trying to make contact and I guess I got lucky. I realized the game was getting close, that we were only three runs away from getting out of this, but when I was up to the plate I was just trying to make contact. Rounding third base, I was thinking ‘that actually happened!” Then I got dog-piled when I crossed the plate; it was pretty scary and exciting with everyone screaming.”
This makes Camdenton back-to-back District Champions and Coach Calbert is just as proud of this year’s win as he was of last year’s.
“I’ve been here for 17 years and been the head coach for 7,” said Calbert. “This is our second consecutive District title and it feels just as good as the first one did. Any time you get a District title… we had a second place finish and then a back to back so we’ve had three years of being in a District championship and won it twice. Four years in a row of more than 20 wins so we’ve been on a little bit of a roll. Each one of them feels really good.”
Coach Crum, in his second season at Lebanon, told his girls that he couldn’t be more proud of them.
“Today, we ran into a buzz saw,” said Crum. “That’s just the way it goes, sometimes, but we’ll come back and we’ll reload next year and we’ll try them again. I told my girls that we had a really good run, because we finished the season well. We ended up playing our best ball right near the end.”
Camdenton’s next opponent will come out of the Jefferson City district.
“It doesn’t matter—we’ll celebrate this one right now,” said Calbert. “Our defense played well and Haile pitched really well, and we hit the ball really well. We had every aspect of it working.”
Lebanon 0, Camdenton 10
Lebanon 000 000 — 0
Camdenton 070 003 — 10
