By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
WEBB CITY, Mo. – The ball cleared the center field fence and Webb City coaches and players were left speechless.
The Cardinals’ run in the Class 4 softball playoffs came to an abrupt end Wednesday night as Raymore-Peculiar won in walk-off fashion when senior Katlynn McConville homered on an 0-2 pitch.
The 2-0 loss ended Webb City’s season in the sectional round.
“I felt like we were two very evenly matched teams,” Webb City coach Shauna Friend said. “Both teams fought hard through all seven innings. It didn’t end the way we would have liked but our girls fought all the way to the end and I couldn’t be prouder the way our team picked each other up and made some great plays behind Haidyn (Berry) and Haidyn did a great job in the circle. She kept us in that game and just threw her heart out.”
The home run capped what had been a defensive struggle most of the night. Webb City’s Haidyn Berry, a junior, struck out six batters and walked two. Ray-Pec’s Camryn Stickel struck out 11.
Both pitchers escaped jams in multiple innings.
Webb City, which played as the visitor on the scoreboard, put two runners on with no outs in the top of the first and the top of the fourth. The Cardinals had runners at second and third with just one out in the fourth after singles by senior Stacy Tyndall and Berry, but Stickel got a groundout and a strikeout looking on the outside corner to end the inning.
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Tyndall singled with one out in the sixth but a fielder’s choice and strikeout stranded a runner.
That about did it for the Webb City offense.
Ray-Pec, meanwhile, put runners in scoring position in four different innings. Webb City worked around a two-out double in the first, escaped the fourth with runners at first and second and got into even bigger jams in the fifth and sixth.
The Panthers put runners at the corners with one out in the fifth and had runners at second and third with two outs but Berry got a strikeout and fly out to get out of it. In the sixth Ray-Pec again put runners at the corners got Berry coaxed a pop up to the shortstop.
“Berry threw a heck of a game,” Ray-Pec coach Jim Brown said. “That was a tough battle. We knew she was a tough pitcher. We figured it would be tough. Every time we got a couple runners on she made a pitch and every time they got a couple on our kids would make a pitch. It was just a great game.”
After a 1-2-3 top of the seventh for Webb City, Ray-Pec’s Alexandria Blackmon reached on a fielder’s choice with one out. That brought McConville to the plate. With her home run to center still in the air, Brown said he already thought it was a game winner.
“I thought it was going to hit the wall and we had probably our fastest kid on first (Blackmon) and I think I threw my shoulder out of socket waving,” he said. “I knew it wasn’t going to get caught but I didn’t think it was going to clear the fence.”
The hit provided some redemption for McConville, who had a chance to drive in a run in the fifth.
“Nobody will ever remember the at bat before that she struck out with two runners on,” Brown said. “She came back two innings later and kicking herself a little bit and hit a walk off game-winning home run. I couldn’t be happier for the kid.”
Webb City was left contemplating a 21-7 season and the final game for seven seniors.
“We just had a long conversation about how lucky those underclassmen are to have the senior class lead them the way they did this entire year,” Friend said. “Their motto was hustle and heart and anyone who watched that game would have seen that in all of our players.”
Ray-Pec (24-5) will face Kickapoo on Saturday in the quarterfinal round.
