In last year's 3-1 win over Reeds Spring, the McDonald County High School softball team was held to three hits by the Lady Wolves' Izzy Erickson.
In what figured to be another low-scoring battle this year, McDonald County scored two first-inning runs off Erickson and added five more off reliever Brooke Davis for a 7-0 win on Sept. 10 at MCHS.
Madeline McCall got the win on the mound for shutting out the Lady Wolves on just two hits while striking out 14, including the side in the first three innings.
"We came out swinging the bats well against one of the better pitchers in our conference," said coach Skyler Rawlins. "We got on them early and kept it up throughout the game. Mo (McCall) threw a really good game."
Erickson struck out the first two McDonald County batters she faced but walked Whitney Kinser before freshman Reagan Myrick hit an RBI triple. Alexa Hopkins then walked and stole second before Myrick scored on a wild pitch.
McDonald County added three runs in the third on singles by Rita Santillan, Kinser, Myrick and a two-run double by Hopkins.
Singles by Kinser and Myrick in the fifth led to another run before McDonald County closed out the scoring in the sixth on Santillan's inside the park home run.
Myrick finished with three hits. Santillan and Kinser had two each and Hopkins one.
Aurora
McDonald County scored 15 runs and cruised to a 15-4 win at Aurora on Sept. 12.
Hopkins got the win, allowing four runs on six hits, five coming in the Lady Houns' three-run second inning that cut the Lady Mustang lead to 5-3.
McDonald County scored four runs in the first on singles by Santillan, Kinser and Kaylee Eberley and Hopkins' double. The Lady Mustangs added two runs in the second, third and fourth innings before exploding for six runs in the sixth, highlighted by pinch hitter Jackie Grider's two-run homer.
Kinser and Hopkins led the Lady Mustangs with three hits each. McCall and Eberley had two each and Santillan, Myrick, Grider, Deorica Zamora and Emily Emmert had one each.
"Lex gave up a few runs early but settled in," Rawlins said. "We continued to swing the bats well. We focus on our Tuesday and Thursday conference games. We want to win conference and districts and continue on."
Neosho
McDonald County suffered its first loss of the season on Sept. 16 by dropping a 4-1 decision at Neosho.
McCall took the loss, allowing four runs on five hits while striking out nine.
Four of the five hits she gave up came in the bottom of the fifth when Neosho scored all four of its runs to erase a 1-0 McDonald County lead.
The Lady Mustangs scored their only run in the third on a double by Grider and singles by Cornell and Kinser.
Kinser and Grider finished with two hits each to lead McDonald County, while Cornell, McCall and Leach added one each.
McDonald County fell to 8-1 for the season heading into its Sept. 17 game against Seneca.
Sports on 09/19/2019