By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPARTA — As the Sparta softball team approaches the end of a stretch that will see them play 23 games in 26 days, coach Troy McPherson said his team hasn’t been able to hold a single practice during the month of April.
With the way they’ve been playing, they haven’t really needed to.
Natalie Wilks homered twice, drove in six runs and once again dominated in the circle as the Trojans continued their hot streak with a 15-1 victory over Purdy in the Southwest Central League tournament championship game on Monday afternoon at Sparta Middle School.
Wilks launched a three-run bomb in the first inning, a two-run shot in the second and added an RBI double during Sparta’s eight-run third, leading the Trojans to their second tournament title in the past three days.
They won the Sparta Softball Classic on Saturday, and carried the momentum into a showdown with a Purdy team that was tied for first in the statewide Class 1 rankings.
But the Eagles were no match for Wilks, as the reigning SWCL most valuable player allowed just two hits and struck out seven before the game was called due to the run rule midway through the fifth inning.
“Just a kid that wanted to beat that team,” McPherson said. “A kid that came out and wanted to give her best performance. She’s really stepped up for us, especially this past weekend.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
With Wilks in the circle for both games, the Trojans (18-3) posted statement wins over Strafford and Skyline in the Sparta Softball Classic semifinals and title game on Saturday. But Wilks was relatively quiet at the plate in that tournament, prompting her to make some adjustments prior to the conference tournament title game.
“Today she was out there in the cage,” McPherson said. “She was wanting to pull the ball instead of trying to guide it a little bit more.”
The results were immediate.
The senior crushed two balls over the right field fence on her first two at bats, and Mya Fulton added a two-run double that gave the Trojans a colossal 7-1 lead after two innings.
“I haven’t had a good, solid hit since last Friday,” Wilks said. “It’s been a hard week, but those two home runs definitely helped.”
Buoyed by her showing at the plate, Wilks then struck out the side in the third.
“She loves whenever her bat shines like this,” McPherson said. “She really pitches well whenever she’s hitting it well. She ties those two together. She’s always going to be competitive every time she steps into the circle, but whenever she’s swinging it well she’s really throwing it well. She’s had a little bit of an up-and-down year. She’s kind of gotten mad at herself a little bit, but she’s dug deep on these performances. Days like today show why she’s, I think, arguably the best softball player in spring softball.”
The Trojans blew the game open in the bottom of the third, scoring eight runs on seven hits.
Megan Brown’s single cleared the bases when it got past a Purdy outfielder, and Fulton, Wilks, McKenzie Wilson, Madeline Brown and Addi Taylor also drove in runs during the rally.
“Hits are contagious,” McPherson said. “Whenever you start hitting, it’s going to start falling for everybody. Everybody gets rushing to the bat rack and wants to go up there and go hit.”
And the Trojans have done plenty of hitting in recent weeks.
They followed up the SWCL tournament championship with a 18-1 victory over Blue Eye later Monday. The wins pushed their record to 17-2 in the past 22 days.
The hot-hitting Trojans have outscored opponents 216-44 during their three-week run — and 137-14 in 10 games since competing in an out-of-state tournament at the beginning of April.
“We want to get experience in championship games because our goal is to get to championship games,” McPherson said. “Last year, we were able to win all of our tournaments that we were in – but then we laid an egg in the district championship. That’s something that has really stuck with this team. That’s really been something that we’ve rallied around. We know we’re better than what we showed, and we know that we can win these championship games. Putting these two championship games together – and putting together an offensive performance like that one – really shows that we’re prepared to win a district championship and hopefully compete to push our team to the Final Four.”
Purdy, which initially took a 1-0 lead on Rylee Stanford’s first-inning single, fell to 18-7.
“We got that one-run lead and then they came and hit that big three-run home run and it just sort of put the sails out of us a little bit,” Purdy coach Lori Videmschek said. “And when that happened, we didn’t know how to get out of it. We just didn’t play well today. We didn’t come to compete today. That’s what it came down to.”
PURDY (18-7) 100 00 — 1
SPARTA (18-3) 348 0x — 15
