Four victories in five games advanced the Kingston Lady Redskins softball team to the finals of the rugged Silo Invitational Tournament last weekend.
The Lady Redskins were scheduled to play that championship contest as their district showdown with Silo earlier this week before another major challenge at 3A powerhouse Washington on Thursday evening.
In the tournament pool play, Kingston edged Bethel (2-1) and blanked Broken Bow (7-0) before dropping a 7-6 nailbiter to Poteau. They rebounded opening bracket action with a 3-2 decision over BrokenBowandthentripped Tushka by a 6-0 count in the semifinals.
Ace hurler Gracie Bridgman was the story of the Bethel victory as she fired a one-hit complete game, allowing a single unearned run with seven strikeouts.
Madi Hammond played a key role at the plate with three of the team’s eight hits and drove in the first run. Dextry Bowerman singled and scored what proved to be the decisive run in the final inning on a Keeton Hatley double.
Kanna Stroud got the offense rolling in the initial Broken Bow outing, belting three hits including a home run and drove in a pair. Kate Ratzlaff chipped in two hits anddroveinonewhileDestry Davis contributed a hit and two RBI. Bowerman and Stroud combined on a threehit pitching shutout.
The Lady Redskins notched four extra base hits with doubles from Emma Bridgeman, Khloe Hall and HammondalongwithHatley triple but couldn’t quite hold off Poteau in their final pool action.
In the quarterfinal it was a much different game against Broken Bow the second time, tied at 2-2 through regulation. Kingston came up with the winning run in extra innings, however, as Kate Ratzlaff reached on a bunt single and eventually came in to score on a misplayed ground ball off the bat of Bowerman. Ratzlaff had two of the team’s five hits.
Bowerman and Stroud once again teamed for the pitching decision, allowing two unearned runs on three hits. They struck out three and walked three.
Kingston wasted little time while taking the lead for good against Tushka as Ratzlaff coaxed a leadoff walk in the first stanza and raced home on a Hall sacrifice fly. TheLadyRedskinstacked on two more runs in the third frame on a Hall double that knocked in and they scored threemoretimesinthefourth inning to put it on ice. Ratzlaff and Hall had the key hits in that stanza as Hall ended the game with four runs batted in.
Bridgmancruisedthrough the Lady Tiger lineup for the completegameverdict,allowing a pair of hits, struck out five and walked one.