By Amanda Perkins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Kickapoo Lady Chiefs ended their season Saturday in a 12-4 loss in state quarterfinal play against the Rock Bridge Lady Bruins.
“All in all, we will look back on it a little bit away from the sting of this and probably realize that we had an outstanding regular season,” said Kickapoo head coach Jason Howser. “We did get a district championship and a conference championship; we were just wanting a little more this year.”
“I thought Rock Bridge played really well, they hit it extremely well,” said Howser. “They took advantage of our mistakes, and in a game like this, you can’t make those mistakes. We’ve avoided those for the most part all year, but today, for whatever reason, we didn’t make all the plays that we needed to make. At the end of the day, they kind of outplayed us, so we tip our hat to them.”
Rock Bridge’s first at-bat resulted in a double but no score. In the bottom of the first, Kickapoo senior Taryn Hagardt kicked things off with a lead-off single, then cashed in on junior Kate Finley’s double after stealing second to be the first on the board.
Rock Bridge answered with a three-run bomb in the third and a backside ground ball to score. Their lead-off single, sack bunt, and ground-rule double in the top of the fourth put the Lady Bruins up 4-1. The Lady Chiefs then made a pitching change from senior Allison Scott to junior Callie Kilgo, and the Bruins popped out at bat.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Sophomore Maddie Akers smacked a two-out hit up the middle to advance to first in the bottom of the fourth. Junior Callie Kilgo’s homer that never landed scored them both. The Lady Chiefs trailed 4-3 to close the frame.
After a scoreless fifth, Rock Bridge added 7 runs at the top of the sixth. With two outs in the sixth, the Lady Chiefs returned to their original pitcher, Allison Scott.
Claire Akins homered on a line drive to center field to close out the sixth, 12-4. Kickapoo got a clean inning to head into the bottom of the seventh, but despite a Taryn Hagardt double, the Lady Chiefs couldn’t put together a final drive to close the gap.
“We’re extremely proud of the seniors,” said Coach Howser. “They had an unbelievable four-year career here. It starts in the circle with Allison Scott, and then it bleeds over to our shortstop up the middle with Taryn Hagardt, both four-year starters for us. They had a great four years with us and a great senior year. Mikayla Pilley will go on to play basketball in college but she did a great job for us at third base as well. The rest of the seniors played roles for us this year and did a good job – Hailey Wilson, Ray Hall, and Sidney Pierce. Evelyn Greve was a great teammate for us all year as well, accepting her role.”
Howser continued praise of his team, proudly stating, “They work. They love working and they love being together. The atmosphere really for the last four years has been no drama and a close-knit group of girls that really love being around one another, and I think that goes a long way in high school sports. They are great individuals. As far as people go, you will not find a greater group of 22 on our roster in the halls of Kickapoo or any high school, for that matter. I’m very proud of our seniors and our juniors and sophomores that contributed as well, just our whole team. It was a really fun year to coach. Our coaches did a great job, Coach (Chelsea) Turner with the pitches, Coach G (Bobbi Ganaden), Coach (Lance) Jarman. The girls wanted to be coached, they allowed us to coach them, and there’s not a negative thing I can say about them. They are a great group of kids.”
The Lady Chiefs last won a district championship and advanced to state playoffs in 2020. They end this season with a 30-7 record.
Box Score:
Bruins: 0 0 4 1 0 7 0
Kickapoo: 1 0 0 2 0 1 0
