By Scott Vanscoy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Class 2, District 5 title was won by the Diamond Wildcats, 9-8, over the East Newton Patriots, marking the first time that Diamond has won a District title since 2015. Diamond and East Newton had played previously in the season, with Diamond winning 6-0. East Newton was determined not to let Diamond defeat them so easily this time.
East Newton’s strategy was to jump on Diamond’s starting pitcher, junior Madison Bentley, as early as possible. They did that in the first inning when they plated two runners, Kenzie Massey and Makenna Brasier, but Bentley survived the inning by forcing the final two hitters to ground out to shortstop Emilee Shallenburger.
Diamond, in their half of the first frame, took advantage of two Patriot errors which allowed them to get two runs on only one hit in the inning. The first inning ended in a 2-2 tie.
The score remained the same until the third inning when Massey hit a leadoff double, followed by an RBI double by Brasier. The next hitter was walked and Bentley avoided any further damage by getting a pop out and a line drive back up the middle. Diamond, though, answered when leadoff hitter Caitlin Surhie drew a walk and Grace Frazier drove her in with a single. Then the inning got away from East Newton, allowing the next few hitters to score runs on some defensive miscues. At the end of the inning, Diamond took their first lead of the night with a score of 6-3.
Diamond got one more run in the fourth inning but East Newton fought their way back into the game in the fifth inning when their first three hitters in the batting order scored. Diamond answered with a run of their own and at the end of the fifth the score stood at 8-6 in Diamond’s favor.
“I struck out a few times, got a few hits, but I didn’t get down, I just kept going to keep my teammates up,” said Diamond junior Lexy Bridges. “We were determined to win that game. You have to dig down and see what motivates you the most. For me, that’s my team.”
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Diamond got a solo tally in the sixth to give them a 9-6 lead. East Newton would not go away quietly, though, as the Patriots rallied in the seventh inning. Katie Kester got a 1-out single that she managed to turn into a run by stealing second and third base and was driven in by Josie Guinn. Gracie McMahan hit a two-out double, driving in Guinn, putting the Patriots down 9-8.
It was at this point that Diamond coach Kelsey Parrish went to the mound to talk to her pitcher, Bentley. Bentley struck out the next batter, giving the district title to Diamond, 9-8.
“I just had my teammates back me up, and everybody’s attitudes were up, and it kept me going,” said Bentley. “When your back is against the wall it makes you dig down deep, makes you want it more.”
East Newton just came up short; the bottom of the order couldn’t get a big hit when they needed it. Still, first-year head coach Johnica Jones could not be more proud of her girls. They set a school record for wins with 25.
“For East Newton, this is big,” said Jones. “It’s somewhere we’ve never been so I’m really proud of them. We fought really hard, competed really well, I’m just so proud. Diamond is good; I wish them the best of luck. I hope they do great, they competed well today. We are in a new spot, I felt like every single at-bat was well-fought, all the way to the end. We have nothing to hang our heads about.”
Diamond, which only has one senior, will have a full squad returning next spring.
“We won and it is so exciting,” exclaimed Diamond’s lone senior Grace Irwin. “It means the world to me, it’s exciting, it will be the first time I’ve ever went to state!”
Diamond never lost confidence in themselves, and they continued to play as a team, determined to win.
“It took everyone tonight,” said Parrish. “East Newton came out hitting the ball so we had to play good defense. We had to adjust at the plate off of their two pitchers, and I’m just really proud of my team. I’m pretty proud of my girls. I believe in all nine of their bats and they adjusted really well. It’s hard when you go back and forth from fast pitching to slow pitching and they did really good job. I think our attitudes were a big difference maker. We just stayed up in the dugout and all around. It took every single one of us to stay up.”
Diamond 9, East Newton 8
East Newton 201 030 2 — 8
Diamond 204 111 X — 9
