Monday’s district championship game in Mexico had the makings for a state title game.
The Class 3 District 4 title game had the state No. 3 Centralia and state No. 1 and defending state …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous website, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
Monday’s district championship game in Mexico had the makings for a state title game.
The Class 3 District 4 title game had the state No. 3 Centralia and state No. 1 and defending state champion Chillicothe going for the prize, and the Lady Panthers won 2-0. All-state pitcher Jaylynn Brown struck out 12 and allowed four baserunners in the circle and hit a two-RBI home run off all-state pitcher Landry Marsh.
“In my previous at bats, I kept swinging at high pitches,” Brown said. “One of the pitches in that at bat, I saw another high one. I told myself, ‘I’m not swinging at another high one.’ So I was looking for anything below the belt, and I happened to get one. I’m not missing that opportunity.”
Head coach Liz Bostick said the atmosphere was great, especially from Centralia’s fans who made the trip to Gallop Field. Even though the defending champion was in front of them, Bostick said there wasn’t much pressure.
“I didn’t feel pressure because I knew what my team had,” Bostick said. “I told the kids, ‘We have nothing to lose. They have a lot to lose.’ I tried to take the pressure off the kids with that. We had some big holes to fill with losing some kids from last year. This team had already excelled what I thought we could do this year. This has been a fun group of kids who have played for each other.”
Bostick knew this game had a pitcher’s duel potential with Centralia (28-6) and Chillicothe (29-3) each going in with 18 shutouts. There were a combined 26 strikeouts, six baserunners and three hits. Neither Brown or Marsh pitched in the regular season meeting and each team raced to figure out the opposing pitcher.
“(Marsh has) got that floaty offspeed stuff that hangs in the air,” Bostick said. “You have to guess what she’s going to throw you next. Out of the eye and out of the hand, it’s hard to pick up. We did take quality at bats and put balls in play even though we weren’t getting a lot of barrel on it. It was a matter of time before we were going to.”
Chillicothe seemed to be ahead in the race by hitting three balls to the outfield before Centralia did so with Blakely VanDyke’s opposite field slap to left field, giving the Lady Panthers their first baserunner. The Lady Hornets had three baserunners in the sixth inning with a hit by pitch and two walks, but Centralia wriggled out of the jam as Ellie Acree lined out to shortstop Claire Page.
“Being behind Jaylynn, I knew I have to give it everything I can because she’s doing everything she can,” Page said. “When that was coming at me, I had to squeeze my glove because that’s it right there. Bases are loaded. I got to get this one.”
“That took a lot of momentum from them,” Bostick said. “They thought that was where they would score because they got their leadoff hitter on. I told them to ‘Play this game with no regrets. Play this game with leaving everything out on this field.’”
Page recorded four outs from her position, which is more than usual given how Brown is one of 16 girls in the state of Missouri to have 1,000 strikeouts. Brown moved into the top 10 past Portageville’s Taylor Tiffany and Sherwood’s Abigail Atkin — each with 1,056 strikeouts — and is now at 1,059 strikeouts. Playing behind somebody with that much swing-and-miss can be tough, but Page said the Lady Panthers stay ready.
“We do defense every single day,” Page said. “We do grounders, pop flies and everything like that. Once we get to more competitive games, we’re going to have to have good defense.”
Bostick knows her team can deal with tight situations and her defense did what they had to on Monday. There were no errors in the game even though Centralia usually plays on a dirt field.
“We’ve practiced on our football field just to get some turf work in,” Bostick said. “Claire Page at shortstop had several plays tonight, and Sadie Bohlmeyer had a great play in left field coming up with a catch.”
Brown said she tried to find and hit Chillicothe’s weak points all night and was “constantly pushing the boundaries” to see how far Chillicothe would go. When she ran into trouble in the sixth inning, she trusted her defense and knew they would have her back.
“I trust my defense,” Brown said. “Some people have an off night, but I know they’ll show up for me in times I need them.”
Centralia hosts the Class 3 District 3 champion in a quarterfinal game on Saturday afternoon.
