CLICK HERE TO BUY A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD OF THIS VIDEO
By Tyler F. Thompson (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
PLEASANT HOPE, Mo. — The Skyline Tigers entered Tuesday’s Class 2 District 7 championship tilt sporting a 19-4 record.
The host — the Pirates of Pleasant Hope — defied the opposition en route to Tuesday’s title-game appearance.
The title tilt Tuesday was one for the memory banks as the Tigers clawed their way to the 7-1 final, punching their tickets to the Class 2 quarterfinals round.
Starting hurler, senior Jadyn Foster, set the tone from the onset.
Foster hurled seven innings — allowing three hits, one earned run, and striking out five.
Foster said it was her duty to focus in and put the team on her 5’10” frame.
In short, she was in the zone.
“I was [in the zone]. I knew I needed to be focused. I knew I needed to pitch well and win this game,” Foster said. “That is what I had to do.”
Foster exhibited control over the Pleasant Hope offense.
One minute, Foster allows a screamer down the line.
The next 30 minutes the hitters were opening and swinging over and under the pitches as the ball crossed the zone.
Keep ‘em guessing was the recipe, she said.
“I had to keep my pitches on the corners and move the ball a lot, or else they would be on it,” Foster said. “I try to go low and get them off-balance and then give them a rise ball and try to get them to swing at it.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
While Foster set the tone, the offense served as the complementing course, striking for four runs in the bottom of the first.
First, Taylor Hunt connected for the RBI double.
Wanting to contribute at the dish as well as on the rubber, Foster drove in Hunt on her double.
After a wild pitch, Jorden Hodges belted a 2-run round tripper, giving the Tigers the early 4-0 lead.
That was all Foster needed.
“I knew after the first inning, I thought we would be good,” she said. “Then after we didn’t score, I knew I had to stay focused. I couldn’t let them get any runs. They got one, and I knew we had to get our bats going and I needed to stay focused.”
After the Pirates scored their lone run on Jaylin Miner’s RBI triple, the Tigers were looking to retake the four-run lead.
Instead, they plated three more on Hunt’s bases-clearing double.
“It just so happened that we got our bats going and scored more runs,” added Foster.
Tigers head coach Shawna Bybee, who is in her fifth season at the Tigers’ helm, said the title means a great deal given the plethora of talent that exited just one year ago.
“I think it is huge. We had a big group graduate last year, so we didn’t quite know what expectations we had. With my starting lineup, it just shows you have to have determination and discipline to win a ballgame, and to win districts,” Bybee said. “We have worked so hard [for districts] all season.”
The team lost its starting second baseman, shortstop, and catcher to graduation last spring.
However, the character responded en route to the title.
“Oh, mental toughness. They have to be mentally tough,” Bybee said of her champion Tigers. “They dug their cleats into the ground.”
For the Pirates, Miner took the loss, allowing seven runs in six innings.
The Tigers are set to play next Tuesday at Adrian in the Class 2 state quarterfinals. Skyline beat Adrian 1-0 on Mar. 22.
