Softball season comes to close
Youthful Lady Jackets complete year with 16-18 record
KINGFISHER HIGH SCHOOL’S senior softball players were honored during the team’s final home game last Tuesday night. Pictured (with pictures of themselves) with their parents are, from left, Macy McCully, Loren Ballard, Ashley Poarch and Chelsea Johnso
KINGFISHER SENIOR Loren Ballard tags out a runner between first and second base during last Tuesday’s win over Kremlin-Hillsdale. [Photo by Jeremiah Hill/KHS Photography]
The 2019 softball campaign came to a close Thursday for the Kingfisher Lady Jackets.
In a makeup game, KHS was shutout 4-0 on the road by Cushing in a District 4A-1 matchup.
The loss gave the Lady Jackets a 16-18 overall record for the season and a 2-10 mark in the district.
KHS finished seventh in the district, from which only the top-four teams advance to the playoffs.
“I’m proud of how our girls competed all year long,” said head coach Danny Green.
“Even in a loss, it was almost always a battle down to the wire with one inning that determined the result.”
This year’s season was one that could prove beneficial in the future.
“We are fairly young, starting only two seniors while we had three and sometimes four freshmen in the starting lineup,” Green said.
Earlier in the week, that small batch of seniors was honored at Senior Night.
Chelsea Johnson, Ashley Poarch, Macy McCully and Loren Ballard were introduced prior to the team’s 7-4 victory Tuesday against Kremlin-Hillsdale.
Some of Kingfisher’s youth played a big role in the win as freshmen Mya Dewberry and Natalie Dick drove in two runs apiece.
Dick’s fielder’s choice in the first inning got KHS on the board and Ballard later picked up an RBI with a bases loaded walk.
The lead grew to 3-0 in the third when Dick picked up her second RBI on a ground-out to score Olivia Wilcox.
Kremlin-Hillsdale tied the game with three runs in the top of the fourth, but Mia Farrell pushed it to 4-3 with an RBI groundout in the bottom half.
After Kremlin again tied it in the fifth, KHS took the lead for good with three sixth-inning runs.
The Lady Jackets got four hits in the frame, three of them for extra bases.
After Emma Lukasek singled and Farrell doubled, they scored on Dewberry’s triple.
Dewberry was brought home by Kaycee Karcher’s double giving KHS the 7-4 lead.
Wilcox made the lead stick with a scoreless seventh.
She allowed six hits and two earned runs over her seven innings of work.
That win came one day after a 7-2 loss at Perkins-Tryon.
Wilcox and Dewberry drove in a run apiece for KHS. Ballard and Farrell scored the runs.
Most of those Lady Jackets will return for what will be a more experienced squad in 2020.
“We are excited about what the future holds for this team moving forward,” Green said.