Kingston’s Lady Redskin softball team advanced to the fast pitch state tournament for the first time since 2018 last week with a twogame sweep of district rival Atoka in the Class 3A Super Regional.
The Lady Redskins were dominant 10-1 and 11-1 victors to take the best-of-three event title while upping their season record to 29-10.
Coach Aaron Minor’s squad was slated to meet another district combatant in Silo in the state tournament opener on Thursday at the Firelake Complex in Shawnee.
In the opener, Atoka jumped out to a 1-0 first inning advantage before the Lady Redskins wasted very little time in answering their half of the frame thanks to bunt hits by Kate Ratzlaff and Madi Hammond.
Kingston added another run in the third stanza following doubles by Kanna Stroud andAvaBainbutthatproved to be all the scoring until a massive eight-run outburst in the sixth by the hosts.
EmmaBridgemansingled ahead of doubles from Destry Davis,KhloeHallandDextry BowermanbeforeBridgeman came up for the second time in the inning and blasted a two-run homer to cap the outburst.
Ratzlaff was the fuel for the offensive charge with three hits from the leadoff spot with Bridgeman adding two big knocks. Hammond, Stroud, Hall, Bain, Bowerman and Davis all finished with one hit.
Gracie Bridgman went the distance in the pitching circle, allowing a single run on three hits, struck out four and walked none.
It didn’t take that long for Kingston to break things open in game two as the Lady Redskins cruised to four tallies in the first stanza, three in the second and four in the fourth to take command.
Hall twirled four innings for the pitching triumphs, allowing a single run on two hits and struck out a pair.
Attheplate,sevenofthe12 Kingston hits in the contest went for extra bases spread throughout the lineup.
Bain ended with three hits, including a pair of doubles, and drove in two runs. Ratzlaff tallied a triple as part of her two hits while Hall chipped in a single and double.StroudandDavisalso doubled and knocked in three runs each.