Lady Jackets pick up district sweep
Ballard, Mills deliver big hits to lead KHS to 4A-1 road victories at Bethany
KINGFISHER’S LOREN Ballard is shown making a play in the field in Kingfisher’s season opener against McLoud on Monday. The next night against Bethany, Ballard accounted for eight runs in the team’s 13-8 victory. [Photo by Russell Stitt / www.stitt.smugmug.com ]
Loren Ballard and Taylor Mills combined for 9 RBIs in the first game of a double-header Tuesday to lead Kingfisher to a district softball sweep at Bethany.
Ballardhadfourextra-base hits and Mills slapped an inside-the-park grand slam as part of a 13-8 victory in the opening contest. The Lady Jackets followed that up with a 5-4 win in the nightcap to up their season and District 4A-1 mark to 2-1.
It was Olivia Wilcox who got KHS on the board with a first-inning RBI single, but the Lady Jackets really came alive beginning in the second.
That’s when Ballard got her first big hit, a three-run double for a 4-0 lead.
Kaycee Karcher followed her up with a run-scoring triple for the five-run advantage.
Bethany was able to cut it to 5-4 after the third inning, but Ballard extended the lead with a solo homer in the fourth.
Natalie Dick, who was in the pitching final 1 1/3 innings for KHS, helped her own cause with an RBI single.
Ballard struck again in the fifth, this time with an RBI double.
She finished the game 4-for-5 at the plate with three doubles, the homer, 5 RBIs and three runs scored.
Bethany again fought back and got within 8-6, but Elizabeth Perdue managed to get hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the sixth.
Mills came up behind her with Bethany working a defensive shift.
Mills hit it down the line opposite the shift and got her grand slam. She scored twice overall in the game.
Wilcox also had four hits for KHS while Perdue added three and drove in a run.
Dick and Karcher had two hits apiece.
Wilcox got the win with 5 2/3 innings of work. Only three of the six runs she gave up were earned. She struck out five and walked two.
The Lady Jackets were able to build another lead in the second contest after falling behind 1-0 early.
They got three runs in the bottom of the second, beginning with Mills drawing a bases-loaded walk.
Mia Farrell drove in a run when she reached on an error and Karcher made it 3-1 with a run-scoring single.
Emma Lukasek made it 4-2 in the third with an RBI groundout and Macy McCully also drove in a run on a groundout in the fifth.
That proved to be the difference.
Bethany was able to score twice with two outs in the top of the seventh off of Wilcox and had two more runners in scoring position.
However, Wilcox coaxed a comebacker to end the game and pick up her second win.
She walked one and struck out three while surrendering 11 hits.
Karcher led the KHS offense with three hits.
Dick posted two more hits for the Lady Jackets.