Lady Mustangs Outgun Lady Eagles

Photo by Rick Peck McDonald County first baseman Maddie Colvin is just a fraction of a second late in putting a tag on an Aurora runner during the Lady Mustangs’ 12-0 win on Aug. 31 at MCHS.

Photo by Rick Peck McDonald County first baseman Maddie Colvin is just a fraction of a second late in putting a tag on an Aurora runner during the Lady Mustangs’ 12-0 win on Aug. 31 at MCHS.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

A regulation game slugfest turned into an extra inning pitching duel before the McDonald County Lady Mustangs softball team came away with a 10-9 win over the Nixa Lady Eagles on Sept. 1 at Nixa High School.

McDonald County scored the winning run in the top of the 10th inning on a two-out RBI single by sophomore Maddie Colvin. Colvin's hit drove in Whitney Kinser, who had reached with a two-out single. Kinser went to third on Alexa Hopkins double, setting the stage for Colvin's go-ahead hit.

The win went to Kaylee Cornell. Cornell pitched six innings of relief, allowing one run on five hits.

The teams combined for 30 hits, including 14 by the Lady Mustangs. Cloee Helm led McDonald County with four hits while Rita Santillan had three and Kinser, Hopkins, Colvin had two each.

The first of Hopkins two hits was a grand slam in the second inning that erased a 5-4 Nixa lead at the end of the first.

Nixa closed to 8-6 in the bottom of the second before both teams scored a run in the third. Nixa closed to 9-8 in the fourth off of Hopkins, who allowed eight runs on 11 hits in four innings. Nixa tied the game in the sixth off Cornell, but the senior right-hander shut out the Lady Eagles over the final four innings on just one hit.

The Lady Mustangs improved to 4-5 for the season heading into their Big 8 Conference contest at Seneca on Sept. 7. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.

Aurora

McDonald County opened Big 8 Conference play with a 12-0 win over Aurora on Aug. 31 at MCHS. Hopkins got the win, shutting out Aurora for three innings on one hit. Cornell worked two scoreless innings, also allowing one hit.

McDonald County took control of the game in the bottom of the first, scoring four runs on three hits. The Lady Mustangs put the game away in the second with six runs on five hits.

Santillan, Hopkins and Maddie Colvin had two hits each to lead McDonald County while Cloee Helm, Kylie Helm, Kinser, Miryan Martinez and Chloe Colvin had one each. Kinser, Hopkins and Maddie Colvin drove in two runs each.

Carthage

The Carthage Lady Tigers avenged a 12-0 loss to McDonald County three days earlier with a 5-4 walk-off win on Aug. 28 at Carthage High School.

McDonald County took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh, but Carthage scored two runs on two hits to pull out the win.

Hopkins went the distance for McDonald County, allowing five runs (one earned) on nine hits.

McDonald County was held to six hits, including two by Kenzie Stephens. Cloee Helm, Kinser, Maddie Colvin and Chloe Colvin had the other four hits for the Lady Mustangs.

Sports on 09/07/2017