Monday, October 12, 2009

Tigers Give Up Nine in Districts; Lose 13-0 to Stanberry

Worth County could not take advantage of their good fortune in the opening round of districts, falling to the Stanberry Bulldogs 13-0 in five innings in a game that was played in the cold and rain. KAAN Announcer Stuart Johnson said it perfectly when he said that on the eighth day of creation, God created a ball field in Stanberry that would stand all types of weather and that it was going to be put to the test. Worth County did receive good news on another front as they will host their first-ever sectional tonight as Jefferson, the winners of their district, will play the winner of District 16.

The Tigers did not get a single hit against the top-seeded Bulldogs, who had beaten the Tigers 19-4 in their GRC matchup. Brooke Adams got a walk in the first inning with one out; however, Worth County could not score as Amanda Downing and Ashley Reynolds both struck out. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Megan Durbin tripled with two outs to bring home two runs for Stanberry and came home herself on a wild pitch to make it 3-0

Delaney Davidson walked to lead off the second, but the next three batters all struck out for Worth County. Stanberry went in order in the second but would score nine in the third to put it out of reach. Tiger centerfielder Brooke Adams had one of the few highlights for Worth County in the inning as she made a running catch in the right-center gap. Four of Stanberry's runs came with two outs. In the fourth, Davidson drew her second walk for Worth County with two outs, but was stranded. In the fifth, Kacey Smyser hit the hardest shot off the Stanberry pitcher, a sharp foul past first, but then struck out to end the game.

Coach Todd Simmons said that the Tigers got off to a good start, but then struggled against the tougher part of their schedule during the middle part of the season. But he said that they had improved greatly towards the end of the year, including a 7-2 win over Princeton and their first district win in two years, a 6-4 win over Albany. He said that Paige McPike in right field had really come on strong towards the end of the year; she made a heads-up play for the final out of the Albany game when she made a 9-3 putout to end a late Albany rally. Brooke Adams had also shown a lot of improvement when she was moved back to center field as she made two catches in the right-center gap during districts, a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

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