McLouth softball headed to 3A state in Manhattan

The pitching tandem of “Lulu” and “Sam” and an offense that can and has scored runs in bunches combined to lead the undefeated McLouth High School softball team to its second 3A state tournament berth in three years.

The Bulldogs cashed their ticket to the state tournament in Manhattan May 14 with two regional tournament wins at Pleasant Ridge High School in Easton. The top-seeded Bulldogs, who entered the tourney at 17-0, run-ruled the host Pleasant Ridge Rams in the semifinals and then used one inning of offensive work to coast past the Wellsville Eagles in the championship game.

The aforementioned “Lulu” is junior Lezley Lawson, while “Sam” refers to senior Samantha Farris. The pitching duo has combined to mystify opposing bats throughout the 2008 season and the regional tourney proved no different. Farris took the mound in the semifinals versus Pleasant Ridge and got plenty of offensive support while shutting down the Rams.

Farris was never in much danger of allowing a run throughout the game, and the Bulldogs got started when junior Deanna Durkes cranked a grand slam in the first inning to make it 4-0 McLouth. Farris stranded a couple baserunners in the second and the Bulldogs added 2 runs in the third on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Missy Rome and a wild pitch that scored Lawson to make it 6-0 Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs put the game away in the fourth inning with 4 runs as freshman Jesse Troupe led off with a triple into the right field corner and, with 1 out, a fly ball by junior Kendall Patterson was mishandled in right field to allow Troupe to score. Freshman Kaley Patterson followed with a 2-run single and Lawson drove in a run with a double to centerfield to make it 10-0 Bulldogs. The 10-run deficit invoked the run rule after five innings and Farris again held the Rams in check to end the game after five innings at 10-0.

That set up half of the championship matchup with the Wellsville-Oskaloosa game to determine the other finalist. Oskaloosa entered as the number two seed at 6-6 while Wellsville was the third seed at 7-10. Wellsville trounced the mixed Troy and Wathena team, 17-0, in the first round.

Oskaloosa took the early lead on the Eagles but saw wild pitches and some shaky defense cost them in a big way during the middle innings. The Bears scored 4 runs in the bottom of the first inning as junior Nicole Rockhold scored on an Eagles error and another error helped load the baes before freshman Sarah Cunningham doubled to center to bring in 2 runs and a fielder’s choice hit into by sophomore Audrey Trowbridge brought in the fourth run of the inning.

Bears senior pitcher Hannah Dissinger had worked a fairly quick first inning but ran into trouble in the second with a 1-out walk and then three pitches that were either wild or got away from senior catcher Emily Heston to help fuel a 3-run Wellsville rally to cut the lead to 4-3.

The Bears failed to extend their lead in the second and Wellsville rallied again in the third inning, this time for 8 runs as six Bears errors in the inning were crucial. Four of the runs scored with 2 outs to make it 11-4 Eagles.

The Bears stranded two runners in the third inning but scored 2 runs in the fourth on a run-scoring Eagles error and an RBI single by Dissinger to cut the lead to 11-6. The Eagles got the runs back off Dissinger in the fifth as a wild pitch scored a run and a single off Dissinger’s glove pushed home another run to make it 13-6. The Bears stranded a baserunner in both the fifth and sixth innings and had two on during their final at bats in the seventh but freshman Hailey Kelly popped out to shortstop and Rockhold grounded out to the pitcher to end the game.

That set up the championship between the top seeded Bulldogs and third seed from Wellsville for a berth at the state tournament. Lawson took the mound as Farris took up position at shortstop. The Bulldogs had the advantage of facing Wellsville junior pitcher Chailyn Cummings, who had also pitched the semifinal versus Oskaloosa and struggled at times.

Lawson proved dominant in the game as she started off with 2 strikeouts in the first inning and stranded one Eagle. Lawson struck out the side in the second inning and the Bulldogs grabbed a 1-0 lead in their half of the inning on a Rome double to the centerfield fence and a Durkes sacrifice fly. Lawson gave up her only run of the game in the top of the third as Wellsville got a 2-out triple and RBI single to tie the game.

McLouth broke the game open in the third as Kendall Patterson drilled an RBI double to right center and a Kaley Patterson fielder’s choice ended up scoring two runs thanks to a Wellsville throwing error. Rome hit a flyball to right field that the outfielder dove for and couldn’t reach as two runs scored and Rome got to third on the play. Durkes hit another RBI single and the dust settled with a 7-1 Bulldogs lead.

That was all Lawson needed as she struck out the side while stranding two in the fourth, struck out two in the fifth, struck out two in the sixth and then struck out the side in order in the seventh to clinch the state berth for the Bulldogs. Lawson finished with 17 strikeouts out of 21 total outs in the game.

A jubilant Bulldogs squad gathered between home plate and the pitcher’s mound to celebrate the victory, but as the team leaders brought back the regional title plaque to their teammates and coach Ballard Patterson, the coach was quick to keep his team focused on its ultimate goal.

“This isn’t the plaque we’re playing for,” he told the team. “This is one step, but this isn’t the plaque we’re playing for.”

After the team dispersed for more celebration, Patterson said this season’s result is much nicer than last season’s was, when an undefeated Bulldogs squad lost to Silver Lake in the regional championship. This season, Silver Lake cashed its state ticket at another regional and could potentially meet the Bulldogs in the state semifinals.

“Our goal from day one has been to win state, and I knew we had the horses to make a run at it,” Patterson said. “We’ve got a lot of quality players, and they all came in with one goal. At our very first meeting, we had everybody write down one goal, and almost everybody wrote down a state championship. The girls have done a good job of staying focused. Going into today we talked about needing five wins. Now we need three.”

Patterson said there was some strategy in pitching Farris in the semifinals and saving Lawson for the final. He said he likes his team’s defense better with Farris at shortstop, Rome at second and Kaley Patterson at first. When Farris pitches, Lawson plays first base and Patterson and Rome shift to second and short.

“Both (Farris and Lawson) have been pretty dominant this season, so it could really go either way,” Patterson said. “But Sam is also a great shortstop so I feel better about us up the middle with Sam out there.”

Farris, who is making her second trip to the state tournament as a Bulldog, said the team had a good mindset going into the day’s games. She said she found out right before the game versus Ridge she would start that game, and was comfortable with whatever way her coach decided to play the pitching matchups.

“We just wanted to come in and be rowdy and high on energy,” she said. The Bulldog bench cheered loudly throughout the title tilt with Wellsville. “We had one main goal and came out here feeling we had to do it. I think we’re ready this year (for state). We know what it’s like.”

The Bulldogs are the second seed in the tournament and play their first game at 5 p.m. Friday at the Twin Oaks Complex in Manhattan. They take on seventh-seeded Herington-White City, which is the same team that eliminated McLouth in the first round of the 2006 state tournament. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Silver Lake-Thomas More Prep-Marian game at 10 a.m. Saturday at the same complex. The top seed in the field is undefeated Wichita Independent, which comes in at 23-0.