Paris couldn’t overcome the one-run deficits on Friday but overcame one huge deficit this season.

Paris vs Stanberry Photo Gallery

Paris vs Gallatin Photo Gallery

The Lady Coyotes earned their first ever state trophy with a fourth-place finish Friday at the Class 1 MSHSAA softball championships at Killian Softball Complex in Springfield. The state No. 8 team’s day started with a 4-3 loss to No. 5 Gallatin (24-9) after Paris’ seventh-inning rally fell just short and then the day ended with a 3-2 nine-inning loss to Stanberry (13-15) in the Lady Coyotes’ first extra-inning game of the year.

Head coach Collin Huffman said Paris (23-8) won way more games than any Lady Coyotes team in the past two decades and usually only lost close ones. Six of the program’s eight losses this season were by one run and two happened in one day at state. 

“There’s nothing negative I can say what we did today,” Huffman said. “We played good softball. We were just on the wrong end of two one-run games.”

Huffman mentioned that Paris had to be the away team both times and that can especially put some more pressure in an extra-inning scenario like against Stanberry. Alyssa Wallace hit a walk-off single for Stanberry against senior Kennedy Ashenfelter. 

Ashenfelter’s ERA closed at 1.02 and she will graduate as a career strikeout record holder. Most importantly for Paris in the postseason, she pitched all 38 innings while allowing 10 earned runs. Tack on her 4-for-8 day at the plate at the Final Four and Huffman has a dependable leader and “one-of-a-kind” pitcher.

“It’s huge when you can count on somebody to jump out and be able to do things like that for you,” Huffman said. “She’s always there, and you can always count on her. Every year that I've had her, I can always count on her.”

Ashenfelter said it was a great feeling to make it to the Final Four after nobody expected the Lady Coyotes to be there. When Paris was on a big stage this past weekend, she said everyone learned what word is most important to the Lady Coyotes.

“Our team has grit,” Ashenfelter said. “No matter how we’re down, we always fight back to, in most cases, win.”

One key example was when Paris fell behind 5-0 early to Cairo in the quarterfinals only for the Lady Coyotes to win 8-6. They were down 4-1 to Gallatin in the semifinals but then turned a dropped third strike and an error in the seventh inning into two runs on a hit down the first-base line by senior Alyssa Webb. 

“I went up and talked to her and said, ‘These are the moments we live for, and it’s time to do something for your family,’” Huffman said. “There she goes. She gets the hit. It speaks volumes to her character. That’s why she’s one of our captains because she can do stuff like that for us.”

Paris was playing timid before that point, Huffman admitted, on plays such as a dropped ball that could have been an outfield assist and a passed ball that allowed a run to score. However, he said the girls played into a situation he felt sure they would win only if they could get one more hit. That was also true in the Stanberry game with two Paris runners on in the eighth inning and the bases loaded in the ninth only for a run not to cross after some hard-hit balls found gloves instead of holes.

Leading up to this season, Webb said many of the girls developed the mindset of doing a little more to improve and support their teammates. The program advanced in her career from three wins as a freshman to 23 and a state trophy as a senior.

“Starting off our freshmen year, it was tough seasons,” Webb said. “Improving to our senior year, it’s really great. We might look sad, but we’re really happy that we made it this far.”

Wendi Sutherland is another senior that witnessed and was part of that growth. Instead of wallowing in negative feelings after losses, she agreed with Ashenfelter that the team didn’t do that and grew closer as the Lady Coyotes worked hard, including during the summer.

“We all stick together no matter what,” Sutherland said. “We’re always helping each other in practices, during games and are always there for each other no matter what.”

Huffman said he is glad Paris had a taste of state and could do even more if the team makes it back in the near future. For example, he said Gallatin finished fourth in the previous season’s Final Four after losing two close games 5-3 to then-champion La Plata and 7-4 to Marion C. Early. 

The Lady Coyotes “did everything they needed to to give them a chance to win,” Huffman said, and that is what’s most important at the Final Four. In fact, they did better than giving themselves a chance with how far they advanced this season.

“Our expectation was to make it to a district title game and play for it,” Huffman said. “Clearly, they went beyond that. They won a district title in extremely convincing fashion then won quarterfinals and then they got here and played two really good games. Nobody here at the Final Four is a bad team. Play your best, and hopefully, you come out on top.”

When it comes to finding a word to sum up Paris softball this year, Huffman can’t do it due to how special of a group he had. 

“They’re a great group of girls,” Huffman said. “I’ve said this over and over, but I’m just honored to be their coach. It makes me feel special because of what they do and makes me happy to be a part of this.”