Van-Far wins first games, takes third place in North Shelby

Van-Far softball was victorious for the first time and it earned the program some hardware.

The Lady Indians defeated Scotland County 12-6 in five innings, lost 15-0 in three innings to Paris and defeated Marion County 11-5 in five innings to capture third place Saturday in the North Shelby Tournament. Kayla Heaton went 6-for-11 and scored four runs from the leadoff spot in her second, third and fourth games in that spot of the order.

The most runs Van-Far (2-8) had scored this season was five runs, but the offense exploded against Scotland County for 15 hits, including five doubles, and scored seven in the second inning. Reeve Woodall allowed three earned runs and struck out five in the circle and was 4-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI at the plate, Kaelyn Hutcheson was 2-for-3 with three RBI and Heaton had two doubles.

Van-Far managed five hits against Kennedy Ashenfelter and the tournament-champion Paris Lady Coyotes. Paris stole five bases, had four doubles, and two girls with two RBI — Reese Sutton and Alyssa Webb.

Against Marion County, Van-Far held a 7-5 lead after four innings and cemented third place with a four-run fifth inning. Elliott Utterback had a RBI single as part of the fifth-inning effort to give her a multi-hit game. The top three in the Lady Indians’ order of Heaton, Mylee Keller and Carmen Wilburn each had three hits, Van-Far tallied eight stolen bases, and Woodall allowed three earned runs on four walks and three hits with five strikeouts in five innings.

Van-Far (0-4 EMO) hosted Eastern Missouri Conference foe Montgomery County (9-3, 3-2 EMO) on Tuesday before playing another conference game at Bowling Green (9-3, 4-0 EMO) at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Indians run through by Bowling Green 72-22

Van-Far had a tough hill to climb on Friday in Bowling Green.

The Eastern Missouri Conference Bobcats are two-time reigning district champions and have featured an offense that piles up the yards and points. The Indians lost 72-22, scoring their most in the prior four meetings with Bowling Green but allowing the most they have against the Bobcats.

Head coach Lucas Gibson said he thought his team wasn’t ready to play such a challenging opponent. There were factors like Van-Far (1-3, 0-3 EMO) being without a starting offensive guard because of injury in practice and Bowling Green (4-0, 2-0 EMO) having a Division I running back Bleyne Bryant before he goes to Wyoming, but the Bobcats just had their way on offense.

“We just didn’t show up to play, it seemed like,” Gibson said. “They just dominated us running the ball up the middle or wherever they wanted to basically.”

The closest the score was all night was when Van-Far trailed 8-6 following a 75-yard touchdown run by fullback Ty Evans, who ran for 81 yards on eight carries, on its first drive of the game. Quickly, the score became out of hand as Van-Far trailed 59-6 at halftime.

The Indians still had some offensive punch as Gage Gibson caught a touchdown, quarterback Nikos Connaway ran for a touchdown as part of his 70 yards on six carries, and Reece Culwell caught two 2-point conversion tries and 57 yards on three catches. Connaway threw for 87 yards on 5-for-9 passing. 

On defense, Gage Gibson led with six tackles and had an interception, and Connaway finished with a pick as well.

“They’ve got a pretty good offensive line,” Lucas Gibson said. “They’re a good disciplined football team.”

Van-Far hosts conference foe Wright City (3-1, 2-0 EMO) at 7 p.m. Friday.