Early this week, Oilton played Davenport at Oilton, and the Lady Panthers survived Davenport 5-4 in eight innings.
Hallie Holm pitched and struck out eight. They took her out after fi ve innings and put Pattie Smith in the game. Smith struggled, so they put Holm back in, and she pitched the fi nal fi ve outs.
The score was tied at 4 going into the bottom of the seventh. Claire James walked with two outs, Hallie Holm singled and Reagan Syres, who had not batted all day, hit a hard line drive that bounced o the pitcher. By the time Davenport threw the ball, Syres had gotten the game-winning hit.
Leading hitters for the Lady Panthers were Jayden Smith, 3-for-4; Holm, 2-for-4 with one RBI; Syres, 1-for-1 with one RBI; Pattie Smith with two RBIs; Kennison Prather, 1-for-2 with two walks; Claire James, 1-for-4; and Demi Kennedy.
Then the conference tournament started in Davenport.
The Oilton Lady Panthers fl attened the Mounds Eagles 20- 0, then played Davenport and were beaten 6-2. They didn’t play all that well, but sometimes did really well. These games were for seeding in the tournament.
On Saturday, they went back to Davenport for the tournament and played Davenport again. Nobody scored for fi ve innings as Kaiton Vann and Davenport's star freshman pitcher battled it out. In the sixth, the Lady Tornadoes scored four runs.
Alyssa Roe singled, Lauren Janzen laid down a great bunt and beat it out, Kaiton singled, Brae Wright walked to score Roe, Boston Lunsford doubled in Roe and Janzen, Tinley Freeman was intentionally walked, Aubrie Brimmer walked and Addy Ingraham singled in Lunsford.
Davenport got the bases loaded with no outs, but Brae Wright threw home for a force play to Brinlee Christy.
Davenport hit a sacrifi ce fl y, and Tinley Freeman caught it. Davenport scored, but there were two outs. Wright and Christy teamed up for another force play, and the game was over.
Vann struck out three. Leading hitters were Lunsford, 2-for-3 with two RBIs; Janzen, 2-for-3; Vann, 1-for-3; Ingraham, 1-for-3 with one RBI; and Roe, 1-for-3.
This set up an Oilton-Drumright fi nal, which Oilton won 4-1. Drumright scored its only run in the fi rst as Roe singled, Janzen walked and Vann singled in Roe, but Oilton got the next three outs.
Drumright stranded eight runners during the game. Hallie Holm got out of a bases-loaded jam with one out in the top of the seventh. Holm only struck out two, but let her defense do the work.
Kennison Prather at shortstop made some very good plays.
Demi Kennedy at third also made some very good plays, along with Kaylee Hopkins at fi rst and Aubrey McEwen at second.
Hitters for Oilton were Holm, 2-for-4 with one RBI; Claire James, 1-for-3 with one RBI; Prather, 1-for-3 with one RBI; McEwen, 1-for-3 with one RBI; Hailey James, 1-for-3; and Jayden Smith, 1-for-3.
For the Lady Tornadoes, Vann was 3-for-3 with one RBI.
Lunsford was 1-for-3. She hit the ball hard to Prather. It was a hard liner that got past Prather. Tinley Freeman was 1-for- 3, and Roe was 1-for-4.
Roe put her body on the line when Prather hit a rocket at her, but Prather's speed got her to fi rst. Ingraham made some good plays, as did Wright and Vann. It looked like Brimmer had made a great play by throwing out an Oilton player at second, but the umpire called her safe. Lunsford also made some good plays.
Drumright's coaches are Leslie Robinson and Alyssa Fuxa.
Oilton’s coach is Aria Cole.
The Lady Tornadoes' 7-9 record is misleading. I believe Oilton has only lost once, to Varnum, which goes to state every year, 1-0.
Don't forget, Thursday night Oilton plays its fi rst game since 1993 against Yale at 7 p.m. in Oilton. Cole Yancey is Oilton’s head coach.