All for family
State no. 1 Centralia hasn’t lost a game in a month.
The Lady Panthers won their 13th straight game while recording their seventh straight shutout on Saturday but …
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State no. 1 Centralia hasn’t lost a game in a month.
Centralia vs Winfield Photo Gallery
The Lady Panthers won their 13th straight game while recording their seventh straight shutout on Saturday but survived a 1-0 nailbiter against state No. 8 Winfield in the Class 3 state quarterfinal game in Centralia. With the victory, Centralia advances to its first state Final Four for the first time since its 2016 state championship season.
“I knew these kids had in them,” head coach Liz Bostick said. “There’s not a team in Missouri I would rather have than my girls. Did we play completely like us today? Maybe not, but they played hard and did exactly what they needed to do.”
Bostick was part of Centralia’s previous state championship teams from 2011-13 and in 2016 as an assistant for hall of fame coach Jill Angell. In her fifth season as head coach, Bostick is taking a team to the Final Four and believes wholeheartedly these Lady Panthers (28-3) put in the work to make it this far.
“This group for me has been more of a family,” Bostick said. “I’ve tried to make that point to teams in the past, and it hasn’t all gelled together. This year, it feels like everything is gelled. These kids, it is a family and we’re playing for each other. When one person falls, another person picks them up.”
Bostick said the Lady Panthers played more “tight” with so much on the line against an all-state pitcher Maci Knowles. Centralia had to win a 1-0 game four games prior at Bowling Green against Sydney Charlton to close the regular season.
Centralia still had star sophomore pitcher Jaylynn Brown on its side. Brown struck out 10, allowed one walk and pitched her second straight no-hitter in seven innings, running her scoreless inning streak to 49 innings.
“It feels great because I put so much pressure on myself,” Brown said. “To see them pick me up and tell me it’s going to be fine if I do what I do best. It’s great because they are all so sweet.”
Brown has been a vital part of Centralia’s success with a sparkling .450 ERA and .536 WHIP heading into Friday’s 1:30 p.m. semifinal against Blair Oaks (15-18) at the Killian Softball Complex in Springfield. However, she said even if she wasn’t a vital part to the team, her teammates would still treat her the same.
Even at times when Brown struggles, she said she has plenty of girls backing her up and picking her up when she makes mistakes. Brown momentarily lost her command in the fourth inning before a visit by her infielders calmed her down.
“I was just so nervous,” Brown said. “My adrenaline was flying high. Having them being there and say, ‘Calm down Jaylynn. You’re fine,’ I love them for that.”
Bostick said the game is “giving back” to Brown after she put in the work to be as good as she’s been this year. She said Brown comes through every night and has been stingy during her scoreless innings streak, allowing eight hits during that span. The most recent runs Brown has allowed has been two unearned runs Oct. 5 against Hallsville and you would have to go back all the way to Sept. 28 to find when she allowed an earned run, which was Centralia’s last loss 8-1 to Class 5 Webb City.
“Who does that?” Bostick said in reaction to Brown’s recent success. “It obviously takes a good pitcher to get (to state). Behind her has to be a defense. Winfield put a lot of balls in play, and we made the plays for the most part.”
“Practice that keeps everything when it needs to be,” Brown said. “Even when I do have incidents like (the fourth inning), I can still get it back over there after calming down and refocusing.”
The Lady Panthers’ offense is averaging its highest since the 2016 title team and have poured on the runs against teams as they did with 22 runs in three games at districts. The offense came through in the bottom half of the fourth inning when Cora King’s single preceded a two-base error that put her at third base. Brown stepped to the plate right after and grounded out to bring that lone run home.
Bostick saw there was nobody backing up an overthrow from left field to second base so King was at third and was confident Brown would bring her home.
“You always want to capitalize on those little mistakes in tie games like this,” King said. “You always want to try to get extra bases as much as you can. I just started sprinting to two and then I saw coach Bostick telling me to come three.”
Winfield (23-6) did put a runner in scoring position in the second inning when Isabel Reinebach reached second base on a missed catch on a pop fly by second baseman Madi Johnson. Bostick said it was a “dang hard play to make” for the sure-handed Johnson, but on the very next play, left fielder Kassena Ridgel picked her and the Lady Panthers up with an “incredible” shoestring catch to end the inning.
“She saved the game right there,” Bostick said.
If someone asked King last summer if Centralia would make it state, she would think they were lying. King said the Lady Panthers were “humble” and worked their way up to this point. The belief started gaining steam during the team’s first games of the season in the William Chrisman tournament in Kansas City, where Centralia finished 3-2 against bigger schools.
“We started beating some big 5A schools that went to state before,” King said. “That’s when we realized we’re really good, and we can make it pretty far.”
Three days after that tournament and one day after a crucial conference game against Macon, Centralia played Blair Oaks, winning 3-0. Brown held the Lady Falcons to one hit that day with 12 strikeouts.
Bostick said Centralia faced all-state pitcher Ava Willson that day, and she threw well with seven strikeouts and two earned runs on eight hits in seven innings. She knows both teams have been better since then, with Blair Oaks scoring 35 runs during its current four-game winning streak. However, that means Centralia is playing its best ball right now and should feel less pressured.
“Now, going forward, they’re going to be relaxed and get ready to go,” Bostick said.
“We were nervous and a little timid this game, honestly,” King said.” Now, we are going to state, and we just have to play our hearts out. I think we have a chance to go all the way.”