Paris softball eliminated by returning state champ Canton after initial district win

Paris had plenty of runs to score in its opening district game Friday against Brashear.

After defeating Brashear 10-5, the Lady Coyotes ran into No. 1 seed and returning state champion Canton for the second time this season — this time in the Class 1 District 5 tournament in La Plata on Monday — and lost 10-1. Paris’ final record is 13-12.

Paris finished with four hits in its first 9-0 meeting with Canton and managed to plate one run on seven hits in the rematch. Senior Maura Crusha hit a RBI single to score Knightlee Mitten following a double in the fourth inning, and Sylvee Graupman led the team with two hits. However, it was Canton’s 5-1 lead at the time.

Canton (20-10) had 12 hits against Kennedy Ashenfelter, including four extra-base hits. Two doubles helped the Lady Tigers score five runs in the first two innings. Emma-Leigh Hultz added a two-RBI home run in the sixth inning to give her a team-high four RBI. 

Mitten made an impact at the plate again on Friday against Brashear (13-10) as she finished 3-for-4 with a double and a RBI. Reese Sutton stole the show by going 4-for-4 with three runs, two doubles and a two-RBI triple, which made it 9-1 in the fifth inning.

Up to that point, Ashenfelter, Mitten, Sophia Crusha and Alyssa Webb drove in RBI to build the Lady Coyote lead. In the circle, Ashenfelter struck out nine and allowed five runs on eight hits and three walks in seven inning. Only one of those runs were counted as earned.

Paris plagued by injury bug in 58-0 loss at Northwest (Hughesville)

The game started off on the wrong foot in several ways for Paris on Friday.

The main issue was the several Coyotes that had to leave the game due to injury as they compounded into a 58-0 loss at Northwest (Hughesville) with Otterville (3-5). Northwest finished with 363 yards of total offense, running the ball for 297 yards and getting 180 yards and five touchdown runs by Jason Bass.

Head coach Cody Carney said quarterback and offensive leader Colton Kendrick left in the first quarter due to an injury and then a senior lineman and running back followed him to the sideline. The Coyotes (2-6) were already at a disadvantage as lead running back Gatlin Fountain was unavailable due to an injury from the previous week.

“Injuries are hard on any team no matter the sport,” Carney said. “It’s always magnified a bit in small-school football. Even if you are a Class 1 11-man team, if you lose one guy, it’s more like losing two because, most of the time, he starts both ways on offense and defense.”

It’s difficult on the coaches to shuffle the roster around in-game and find the best fits, but Carney said it is obviously hard on the players too that need to step into a bigger role all of a sudden. Sophomore Luke Ensor had the task of filling Kendrick’s role at quarterback for a majority of the game.

Carney said it was mostly sophomores on the field and they did flash some positives, but the Coyotes couldn’t do anything all night. Paris finished with 104 total offensive yards. On defense, Reid Ragdale with nine tackles.

“We did make a few big plays, but every time we did make a big play, there was a flag that brought it back,” Carney said. “We never could get any momentum going.”

Paris hopes those injuries aren’t too serious and several Coyotes return to play College Heights Christian (5-3) to close the regular season at 1 p.m. Saturday in Hughesville.