Softball Tigers in Brutal GRC Stretch

The Worth County softball team lost 15-0 in three innings to Hamilton last Thursday as they entered the third leg of a brutal stretch of games in which they play some of the powerhouse teams in the conference. They must still play Stanberry and make up their rained-out game with them; they must also play King City, Maysville, and participate in an always-tough Eagleville tournament. They came into the game having already lost 11-0 to Jefferson and 12-3 to Gallatin.



Part of Worth County's problems come from consistency -- against Jefferson, Delaney Davidson struggled on the mound and it was Ashley Reynolds who pitched respectably for the Tigers. But against Hamilton, it was Reynolds who was shelled for 10 runs and Kacey Smyser who pitched better in the last two innings. Against Plattsburg in the Union Star Tournament, it was Smyser who got into trouble and it was Reynolds who shut them down. Coach Todd Simmons pitched Reynolds, who had pitched well in a 4-1 loss to the Hornets last year, and told her to challenge the Hornet hitters. The move backfired drastically as the avalanche of hits and errors in the first inning was capped by Elise Greenwood's grand slam home run that made it 10-0.

"They're a hard-hitting team," said Simmons after the game. "They're a good strong team."

Brooke Gilland doubled in the gap to left center field with one out in the bottom of the first, but she was stranded there as Reynolds and Amanda Downing struck out to end the inning. After the first inning, Coach Todd Simmons took Reynolds out of the game, moved Brooke Adams from shortstop to left field where she played last year, put Rebecca Moore at catcher, and moved Brooke Gilland to shortstop. "Ashley did nothing wrong; she did everything I asked her to," explained Coach Simmons. "I wanted to put Kacey in and get her some experience." The moves stemmed the bleeding, but not enough to avoid Hamilton ending the game on the 15-run rule.

Sarah Green flied out to start the second and Smyser made a nice running catch of a pop fly as she sprinted all the way to the third base line and snagged it before it dropped. But Emily Schieber tripled to the wall in left, Ellie Whitt singled, and Katrina Grossman tripled to bring home two more runs. The damage could have been worse but Eileen Greenwood hit a high chopper to Gilland at short; she threw an errant throw, but Delaney Davidson dug it out of the dirt for the third out.

Worth County made five errors in the third that led to the fatal 15th run crossing the plate. Shelby Dickey reached on an error when Bailey McPike threw a grounder into the dirt; Elsie Greenwood was hit by a pitch. They took second and third on a wild pitch. Jill Lucas hit a pop fly behind second; Gilland came on the dead run and made a great catch but fell down, allowing Dickey to score. Greenwood took off to third and Gilland threw it away; nobody was covering home which meant Greenwood scored on the play as well. Sarah Green scored on a wild pitch later in the inning for the 15th run.