Community R-6 has encountered tough situations this season.

Community R-6 vs North Shelby Photo Gallery

The state No. 7 Lady Trojans were down 4-1 to North Shelby going into the bottom of the fifth inning of the Class 1 District 4 semifinals on Saturday but scored six runs in the bottom half and then three runs in the sixth inning to win 10-6 over North Shelby (15-8). Community (21-11) earns another game on its home field in Laddonia when it plays in its first district championship game since 2020 at 6 p.m. Monday against state No. 8 Paris (21-6).

Head coach Kendra Murphy said there have been some rough stretches for Community this season. To better counteract that adversity, she said the Lady Trojans have been looking at games in parts, or chunks.

"The last couple weeks of the season, we've really started talking about chunking the game," Murphy said. "So two innings, two innings and then finish the last three. Win the two, win the two and then win the last three."

Based on this model, Community won the first chunk with a first-inning run and then lost the next chunk after allowing a third-inning run. It was off to a bad start in the last chunk as North Shelby scored three runs to take a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning.

Murphy said everything "fell in line" after the Lady Trojans successfully kept the line moving by sending 10 batters to the plate in the fifth inning. They had a spark in the form of Braelyn Kuda's first career home run. 

"It was definitely a spark plug for the team," Murphy said. "She's got a great bat. It's just a matter of getting her to swing. A lot of the times, she likes to take until she gets two strikes and then she just gets that one strike to swing at."

Murphy said she had a quick conversation with Kuda before her home run at-bat, urging her to swing the bat earlier in the count, because "the ball just flies off her bat when she makes contact." Kuda complied by crushing a 1-1 pitch over the left-center-field fence.

The sophomore and North Callaway transfer Kuda had two errors in the outfield prior to her embrace at home plate by her teammates. Kuda said the moment meant a lot to her since it was her first but also because she put those previous chunks in the back of her mind.

"I felt relieved," Kuda said. "After that, everybody bounced back and we scored a whole bunch of runs. I didn't even think I hit a home run (at first), but I really felt relieved afterward."

Peyton Schafer picked up a RBI single later in that inning as part of her 3-for-4 day at the plate. Schafer has several two-hit games his season but hadn't finished one with three hits until Saturday.

Schafer said the hits boosted her confidence to follow the slump she has been in lately. She said the Lady Trojans did well passing the bat down the line after a few scoreless innings.

"It's just mindset," Schafer said. "I regathered myself and played my game instead of everybody else's game."

"She's been out of sorts leading up to this game," Murphy said. "We've been working on her swing and talking her up, but that's what she's capable of. She's got a really nice swing and usually the harder pitchers, she hits better."

Amy McCurdy also finished with a three-hit game for Community, finishing 3-for-3 with two runs and one walk. Jocelyn Curtis, Lydia Hoyt and Chloe Johnson each had one RBI.

Murphy said Community was consistently good throughout with 12 hits. The Lady Trojans had a bad-luck first inning that included a near home-run miss by Curtis just down the right-field line and a baserunner being struck by a potential based out for an out. Like Schafer, Murphy said her team tends to do well against the harder throwers like North Shelby's Addy Uhlmeyer.

"We were excited to play them because we knew their pitcher threw a little bit harder," Murphy said. "We've been game planning for her for a couple practices for her. I thought we had really good at-bats all game."

Curtis struck out seven and alloweed four earned runs on six hits and two walks.

The junior Schafer and sophomore Kuda haven't played in a district title game yet in their careers so they can't wait for Monday's matchup with Paris.

"I'm excited," Schafer said. "A little nervous, but I think will go once we start playing."

"This is my first year on this team so I'm excited," Kuda said. 

Murphy said Community should know each other well by now after playing three times already this season. The Lady Trojans have won two one-run games against Paris by the scores of 6-5 and 5-4. They also lost a 6-3 game in what was the second game the teams played in  Laddonia.

"We've seen all three of their pitchers," Murphy said. "It's been a while since we faced Kennedy (Ashenfelter). It's a matter of sitting back and making sure we hit our pitch and not swing at bad pitches."