By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
REPUBLIC – The Ozark softball team had already locked up the Central Ozark Conference championship well before Jordyn Foley stepped into the circle on Tuesday afternoon.
But it wasn’t hard for Ozark’s ace to get motivated for the final conference game of the year.
“Didn’t really want to go 8-1 in conference,” Foley said. “Undefeated is better.”
Thanks to Foley, it’s also a reality.
The senior struck out 12 in a dominant complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits and zero walks as Ozark completed its undefeated run through the COC with a 3-0 victory over Republic.
Ozark officially clinched the outright COC championship with a 12-0 shutout of Carl Junction last Thursday, as every other team had already lost at least twice. But Tuesday’s result ensured that Ozark finished the season with a perfect 9-0 conference record, which has long been in its sights.
“Our goal all along – from the start – was to just win conference,” Ozark senior Brooklyn Hasler said. “Through the middle of the season, when we were undefeated, we were like ‘We can make this.’ Every game, we were just giving our all and pushing and we finally made it.”
Ozark’s win essentially guarantees the team will earn a favorable seed in the Class 5 District 5 tournament, which will begin Tuesday and will be hosted by Central. Ozark has defeated five of the other seven other teams in the field, but a non-conference loss against fellow district title hopeful Kickapoo may prevent Ozark from wrapping up the No. 1 seed.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
With the seeding brackets set to be determined Wednesday, Ozark coach Jimmy Nimmo said the district tournament – not the conference title – was the team’s focus heading into its COC finale.
“We’re trying to lock in that (No.) 1 or 2 seed in districts for tomorrow at our district seed meetings,” Nimmo said. “Tonight’s win will probably guarantee us a (No.) 1 or 2 spot. Tonight’s win was, I think, more importantly how it’s going to move us forward going into districts?”
The result continued a couple of recent trends for Ozark.
Not only did the team receive yet another strong outing from Foley, but all of its offense came from the bottom half of the lineup. Hasler, who hits eighth, opened the scoring with an RBI single in the fourth inning while No. 9 hitter Kelsie Batey added a two-run single in the sixth.
That allowed Ozark to overcome an 0-for-12 night from the first four hitters in its lineup, who struggled against Republic freshman Piper Dishman. Those hitters did reach base four times in 16 plate appearances – walking once and getting hit by three pitches – but Foley’s solid night in the circle, timely hitting from Hasler and Batey and great defense were enough to secure the win.
“Our defense has kept us in a lot of ball games,” Nimmo said. “We’ve had a lot of key defensive moments. Jordyn Foley has stepped up these last three weeks. Our pitching has gained a lot of ground. Our bottom half of our lineup is starting to produce. That’s something we really struggled on early on. If we can figure out that top half of the lineup and get all of the cylinders moving there, we’ll have it figured out by districts time.”
Ozark (20-7) still has plenty of opportunities to address any potential issues, as the team is scheduled to play five more regular-season games this Friday and Saturday at a tournament in Carthage. Since the team’s district seed will be locked in by that point, the contests could have more of an exhibition feel as the team looks to fine-tune its game ahead of the playoffs.
“We have two practices going into that tournament on Friday,” Nimmo said. “We’ve got to figure out some things on the offensive side. We’ll have some light practices before districts on defense, but we have got to get them rested up. We’ll rest Jordyn’s arm up. We’ll throw multiple pitchers this weekend, give her some rest. This weekend is not about winning. This weekend is about fighting things out and getting better rolling into districts.”
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE GAME
When districts finally start, Ozark will once again hand the ball to a well-rested Foley. And if she’s able to replicate Tuesday’s showing, the team has every reason to expect to keep rolling.
Foley retired the first 11 batters she saw before Annabelle Gerhardt-Hobbs broke up her perfect game with a two-out single in the bottom of the fourth. Foley got a strikeout to end the inning, then retired the next five batters she saw before Jenna Belcher doubled with two outs in the sixth.
Foley responded with another strikeout, and no other Republic runner reached scoring position.
“She mixed it up really well tonight, but we focused on one pitch in particular,” Nimmo said. “Not going to say what that pitch is, but it’s a pitch that she’s been struggling with here recently. We stuck with it and the girls just could not adjust to that pitch at all tonight and we just hung with it. Didn’t show much of anything else at them and just stayed with what was working. She did a great job.”
It was more of the same for Foley, who has been a major reason for Ozark’s success this season.
The Kickapoo result – a 3-2 defeat on September 21 – is Ozark’s only loss to a southwest Missouri team. Ozark’s six other losses came to out-of-area teams at tournaments in Jefferson City and Columbia.
Ozark is also 18-3 in its past 21 games, as Foley has helped the team overcome a 2-4 start.
“She’s been, obviously, very good,” Hasler said. “Today was one of her best outings. She shut everybody down and that one pitch just worked really well. She was able to get everybody.”
Because of that, Ozark was able to get the best of every team in the COC.
It’s the first time Ozark won a conference title since 2018, when it split the top spot with Republic and went on to win a district championship and compete in the state quarterfinals.
With another COC title in hand, this year’s group finds similar achievements within reach.
“I think the focus for us right now is just practice,” Hasler said. “Getting everything set in stone, getting the lineup where it needs to be, so when we get to districts we’re ready and we know that we’re good going in.”
OZARK (20-7, 9-0) 000 102 0 — 3
REPUBLIC (16-12, 3-6) 000 000 0 — 0
