The Durant Lady Lions forced an if-necessary contest in the Class 5A softball regional last week but couldn’t come all the way back in a 12-8 regional title loss to Bishop Kelley to finish with a 20-16 record.
Coach Jimmie Wyrick’s club showed a ton of resilience by bouncing back from a 7-0 opening loss to the Lady Comets by scoring four times in its final at bat for an 11-9 triumph on a Korbyn Robinson walk off single.
Durant opened the regional with a 10-2 run-rule verdict over Del City, cashing in 11 hits while leading from start to finish. The Lady Lions plated a pair of runs in the first as well as the third frames, four in the fourth and the final two in the sixth stanza.
Anslee Morse had a big outing in the leadoff spot, belting a home run as part of two hits, drove in two and scored three times. Allee Cooper contributed three hits and scored three runs with Dasia Lewis belting two doubles and knocking in four. Robinson had two hits as well as adding another RBI.
Emma Sherrer worked four innings in the pitching circle, yielding one run on three and struck out seven in recording the victory. Kenzie Trotter tossed in three frames of two-hit relief and picked up the save.
A forgettable shutout loss to Bishop Kelley followed as Durant could only muster three singles offensively with one each by Cooper, Sherrer and Trotter.
The Lady Lions returned the favor in the rematch and looked like they might run away with it, building a 7-2 advantage through three stanzas before watching the visitors storm back. A Trotter two-run double and Kinsley Odom RBI single were the key blows in the opening inning flurry and Trotter came up again with another two-run double in the third frame. Robinson doubled as well while Lewis, Odom and Morse posted singles.
Kelley reeled off seven straight runs to carry a 9-7 cushion to the bottom of the seventh when the Lady Lions came alive at the plate in their final opportunity. Morse and Cooper ripped singles with one out, Lewis tied it on a fielder’s choice and Robinson responded with the game winner.
Sherrer went the distance in the pitching circle, allowing nine runs but all were unearned as she battled past nine DHS errors.
Trotter’s two doubles aided in her team-high three hits and four RBI. Morse, Lewis, Robinson and Odom each chipped in two hits.
In the finale, the Lady Lions raced out of the gate for a 4-1 edge through one inning with Lewis doubling in one run and Trotter blasting a home run to push across three tallies.
Bishop Kelley duplicated that showing with four in the second go in front and extended the margin to 8-4 in the fifth stanza.
The Lady Lions plated two in the fifth on hits from Cooper, Sherrer and Robinson and another pair in the sixth keyed by hits from Harper Plymale and Sherrer but could not get any closer than 9-8. Seven Durant errors hurt the Lady Lion chances as the pitching duo of Trotter and Sherrer yielded only four earned runs.
Sherrer was the offensive catalyst with four hits with one apiece by Cooper, Lewis, Robinson, Trotter, Odom and Plymale.
