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By Matt Turer — @MattTurer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Springfield, Mo. — After losing seven out of 10 games in mid-September, Jimmy Nimmo met with his seniors. Something had to change.
Since that meeting the Tigers have come alive, and after a 2-0 win over Kickapoo (21-9) in the Class 4, District 11 championship on Friday, have won 10 in a row.
“The seniors and the coaching staff had a heart-to-heart,” Nimmo said. “We had to find the niche. We had to find the unity between the team. There at that mid-point we decided we have to come together. And the leadership has stepped up. Without that meeting, we wouldn’t be the team we are today”
Senior pitcher Brooke Pridgen pitched seven scoreless innings of eight-hit softball and Nya Morgan hit her 15th homer of the season with a two-run shot in the third, leading the Tigers (21-9) to their second consecutive district title and sixth in seven years.
Morgan’s home run tied her for second all-time in a single season in state history and ended up producing the game’s only runs.
“It feels pretty great,” Morgan, a junior, said. “It means a lot. I definitely didn’t think I’d have that many this year but I was glad I had the opportunity to get that many at-bats and do my job.”
Morgan’s bomb was a high-velocity shot deep over the wall in center with two outs. It scored Kara Ford, who reached on a one-out error by shortstop Chloe Merced. Kickapoo starter Emily Admire got Aly Faught to fly out for the second out but couldn’t work past Morgan.
“It felt good,” Morgan said. “We had runners on base and I wanted to help Brooke out. I didn’t think it would be the difference. But I’m glad it was.”
Pridgen struck out four and stranded nine Chiefs in scoring position. She’s allowed just eight earned runs over her last 64.2 innings.
“Having to get out of those situations a little stressful but you can’t show it,” Pridgen said. “And my defense is great. So I knew even if I miss my spot a little bit, they’d be able to field it.”
Ozark lost 10-1 to Kickapoo back on Aug. 25. Kickapoo poured eight runs on Pridgen over 1.1 innings in that early loss, but a change made by Nimmo and Morgan for Pridgen made sure the Chiefs didn’t repeat that success
“[Pridgen] had to change what we’ve done in the past. She’s been a down-and-away pitcher. A changeup pitcher. Tonight, we changed it up. We brought the ball in. She pitched the game she needed to pitch and it got the job done,” Nimmo said.
Kickapoo put runners in scoring position in the first, third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings.
The Chiefs loaded the bases with no outs in the third in a 0-0 game when Heather Chaffin, Katelyn Antrim and Chloe Merced reached on singles. But Pridgen got Ellie Facklam to line to second, Chloe Bowen to ground into a fielder’s choice that forced out Chaffin at home, and got Admire to line out to third to escape.
“Obviously our girls are disappointed because we had opportunities,” Kickapoo coach Jason Howser said. “But at some point you have to tip your hat to Brooke. She did a good job mixing her pitches up on both sides of the plate.”
Kickapoo stranded Merced at second in the first, Kenzie Walker at third and Lauryn Hickerson at second in the fourth, Bowen at second in the fifth and Facklam at second in the seventh.
“I thought our girls were a little bit tight early. Just couldn’t get the big hit. One of things this team’s always done is get that timely hit, and today we just couldn’t,” Howser said.
“You tell me we’re going to have nine runners on and eight hits, I’d tell you we were going to score some runs. But it didn’t happen today. That’s softball.”
Admire struck out five, walked four and hit two batters. Two of her four walks were intentional walks to Morgan. Both Ozark runs were unearned.
KICKAPOO: LOOKING BACK
The Chiefs graduate an important leadership group from a lineup that saw many key contributions from underclassmen … Emily Admire is the biggest loss after career years on the mound and at the plate as a senior … Admire (21-5) finishes with a 1.62 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 161 innings. She hit .433 with a program record 12 homers … Chloe Merced set a Kickapoo freshman record with nine homers … Junior Chloe Bowen hit .444 and didn’t strike out once in 99 plate appearances.
“Our senior class did such a good job leading us and off the field. This is a great team that played together and cared about one another, and it was fun to coach,” Howser said.
OZARK: LOOKING AHEAD
The Tigers will face either Webb City (23-5-1) or Neosho (10-13) in sectionals … Ozark beat Neosho 4-0 this season but lost 10-7 to Webb City and 10-6 to Republic … A win in sectionals would secure a second consecutive trip to the state quarterfinals.
SCORING
OHS |0|0|2|0|0|0|0| — |2|4|0|
KHS |0|0|0|0|0|0|0| — |0|8|1|
Tigers – Top 3rd
Nya Morgan homered to center, Kara Ford scored. — OHS 2, KHS 0
