Paris softball finishes marathon day with fourth place in home tournament

Saturday was going to be a long day regardless for Paris softball.

The Lady Coyotes hosted its tournament and ended up taking fourth place after a 4-2 loss to Class 1 No. 9 Community R-6. Paris with Faith Walk felt good but exhausted after earning the right to play in the winner’s bracket with a 2-1 victory against district opponent North Shelby prior to losing 12-1 to Lewis and Clark Conference foe Salisbury.

The win against North Shelby was revenge for a 14-4 loss to the Lady Raiders earlier this season. Paris head coach Collin Huffman said the Lady Coyotes (8-9) had a better showing in their final game against Community, posting a better score than the 11-0 loss earlier this season, but it was clear the many innings of softball were taking their toll.

“We played 11 innings and then had to walk directly over (to the other field) and play (Salisbury) and then walk directly over (back to the other field) to play again,” Huffman said. “Kennedy (Ashenfelter) pitched 15 innings today. We’re tired. We played three full games all the way through today.”

Kennedy Ashenfelter struck out 16 in allowed three hits and two walks in 11 innings. Adelle Uhlmeyer struck out 16 with four hits and two walks in 10⅓ innings. 

Huffman said Paris did well against Community considering its energy levels but just started slow defensively and couldn’t muster much offense against Paige Painter and Jocelyn Curtis for the Lady Trojans. He said he is curious to see how the Lady Coyotes would do in the third-place game if they were rested because the North Shelby game was exhausting physically, mentally and emotionally.

Paris and North Shelby were tied at 0 going into extra innings. When the runner was placed on second base to start the inning, according to tournament rules for extra innings, Huffman said the Lady Coyotes prevented North Shelby from scoring twice before eventually winning the game on a walk-off RBI by Emma Ashenfelter, who finished 2-for-4.

“I had a runner at second, and we had been bunting,” Huffman said. “I decided we were just going to hit. Emma Ashenfelter came up and told her just to smash one as hard as she could. ‘Smash one at them and let’s see what happens.’ She smashed one to second base, she bobbled it just for a second and I just sent my runner. They made a high throw because she bobbled it.”

Huffman recalls North Shelby having a runner at third base with no outs but failing to score and Ashenfelter shining on defense from the circle. She threw a passed ball but made a barehanded grab before tagging the runner out at home.

“That was the game more than anything,” Huffman said.

Kennedy Ashenfelter, who Huffman called a “warrior” on Saturday, stepped up offensively as well but so did other Lady Coyotes, Huffman said. Reese Sutton covered the three innings against Community while only allowing a hit and an unearned run and had a RBI single late in the game, Sophia Crusha finished 2-for-4 with a double against the Lady Trojans, and there were others that contributed.

“I didn’t change anything in the lineup and I didn’t change where anybody played that entire time so it’s got to be a credit to all of them,” Huffman said. “We played good defense and everybody did their job (Saturday).” 

Lady Coyotes score season-high 22 in win against Madison

Paris had its best offense in years on Monday.

The Lady Coyotes scored a season-high 22 runs in a 22-12 victory in six innings against Madison at home. It was the most runs Paris had scored since 2012, when the Lady Coyotes defeated Marion County 23-8.

The biggest inning for the Lady Coyotes (9-9) was an 11-run third inning, when they trailed 7-5 going into the bottom of the third inning. Maura Crusha had one of her two doubles, and Knightlee Mitten, Hope Sutherland and Jaclyn Shoemyer each had a RBI hit.

Mitten, Sophie Graupman and Emma Ashenfelter each scored three runs. Graupman, Ashenfelter and Sophia Crusha each walked three times. Sutherland finished 2-for-4 with four RBI, and Maura Crusha went 2-for-2 with three RBI.

Reese Sutton struck out eight in 4⅓ innings with six walks, three hits and one earned run.

Paris (3-2 L&C) traveled to Class 2 No. 4 and conference foe Fayette (15-4, 5-0 L&C) at 5 p.m. Tuesday before hosting conference foe Westran (7-9, 1-4 L&C) at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Paris gradually falls behind in 74-30 loss at Schuyler County

Paris felt it had what it took to keep up with Schuyler County on the road on Friday night but eventually lost track of the Rams.

The Coyotes lost 74-30 but were down 60-30 toward the end of the third quarter. Head coach Cody Carney said that might seem insurmountable from the outside, but in the 8-man football game, margins can evaporate pretty quickly.

The issue was Paris (2-3) didn’t do enough scoring in the little ways throughout the game, Carney said. Schuyler County (4-1) added 14 points worth of two-point conversions while Paris wasn’t successful on any of its two-point attempts. The Coyotes’ offense and its 343 total yards were good enough as they finished with only 26 yards less than the Rams and had one turnover – an interception return for a touchdown.

“They converted a lot of the two-point conversion where we didn’t,” Carney said. “Those added up pretty quickly. We did a great job trading scores back and forth with them.”

The Coyotes were within 2-4 points through the first quarter and for partially the second quarter. Quarterback Colton Kendrick ran for a long touchdown and hit Aron McCain on a 44-yard touchdown strike before Gatlin Fountain ran in from two yards out to make it 22-18 Rams in the second quarter. Kendrick ran for 86 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 82 yards and one touchdown, McCain had 121 all-purpose yards and a receiving touchdown, and Fountain ran for 11 yards and two touchdowns.

Schuyler County took a 38-18 lead at halftime and then 46-18 before Paris could score again in the third quarter on a 57-yard run by Fountain. Carney said the Rams had an efficient offense that contained several good pieces.

“They’ve got a couple really good receivers, a quarterback that is not much of a runner but throws the ball really well to keep the play alive and one running back that is very strong,” Carney said.

On defense, Reid Ragsdale and Fountain each led with eight tackles, and Chase Kendrick had five tackles.

Paris plays at Knox County (0-5) at 7 p.m. Friday in Edina.