Weather played havoc with the Durant Lady Lions’ week one softball schedule but Coach Jimmie Wyrick’s unit managed to notch a pair of district victories.
It was all Durant in an opening 19-0 throttling of Shawnee before the Lady Lions had to wait nearly a week before another road 11-4 dispatching of McAlester.
Wyrick’s bunch will have a hefty challenge against 2A state contenders Oktaha and Pocola in the Murray State Festival on Friday before they finally begin the home schedule against Tishomingo on Monday.
The Lady Lions wasted little time in the season opener by erupting for 14 runs in the first inning as Lylith Harris provided one of the biggest hits of the frame with a triple that pushed across two runs. Raelynn Clark also drove in a pair on a single. Addi Pratt added an RBI single as well.
Against McAlester it took an inning to get rolling, but once they did the Lady Lions turned on the offensive jets in plating six runs in the second stanza.
Brynn Ritenour’s two-out RBI single broke the scoreless deadlock and opened the floodgates as Korbyn Robinson followed with a run-scoring hit as well. Two batters later Clark smashed a threerun homer over the rightfield fence with Harris chipping in a double that led to the final run of the frame.
McAlester narrowed the gap with a fourth inning solo home run, but Durant had the answer in stringing together three straight singles by Kenzee Petty, Ritenour and Robinson. Rachel Spencer also drove in two with a double.
Two more tallies off RBI hits by Petty and Ritenour capped the Lady Lion scoring.
Emma Sherrer was the benefactor in the pitching circle of the offensive production, yielding only one earned run on four hits while striking out eight in seven innings.
Clark fueled the offensive charge with a home run and triple in five at bats, driving in three in the process. Petty and Ritenour each posted three hits as Harris and Robinson contributed two apiece. Ajonay Samuel and Spencer notched one hit as well.
