In a week filled with difficult landmines, the Durant Lady Lions notched a pair of softball victories against four rugged opponents to level their season record at 5-5.
Coach Jimmie Wyrick’s club opened last week’s stretch with an impressive 3-1 triumph over Coweta before falling to district juggernaut Tahlequah, 12-1. The Lady Lions rebounded by edging perennial state contender Oktaha (9-8) ahead of a loss to Mannford (9-1) in the Murray State Festival.
Durant was slated for two more District 5A-3 encounters early this week and will be at the McAlester Festival on Friday to face off with Sallisaw and Broken Bow.
Emma Sherrer was the stalwart for the Lady Lions in the pitching dual victory over Coweta as she yielded just one run while scattering seven hits to record the decision. She struck out three and walked three.
The host Lady Lions trailed 1-0 in the fifth inning before taking command with a three-run flurry. Kinsley Odom began the rally innocently enough by coaxing a twoout walk ahead of a Anslee Morse single. Freshman Allee Cooper then came through with a triple to score both runs and came across herself on a Lady Tiger error. Kenzie Trotter finished the game with a pair of hits, including a double, to pace the offensive charge.
Things were definitely not as pleasant against Tahlequah, facing off versus last year’s state player of the year and Texas A&M commit Zoie Griffth in the pitching circle. The Lady Lions managed just one hit but made the most of it with an RBI double from Korbyn Robinson.
Durant’s bats came alive at the right time in the wild back-andforth affair with Oktaha as they rallied from an early 4-0 deficit.
The Lady Lions erupted for six tallies in the fourth stanza spurred by a Robinson homer along with a run-scoring triple from Morse and RBI doubles off the bats of Sherrer and Dasia Lewis.
It was still an 8-8 deadlock going to the final stanza when they plated what proved to be the game winner on a Sherrer solo home run. She also slammed the door in the pitching circle by silencing the Lady Tiger bats in the bottom of the frame. Sherrer notched three hits while Morse, Cooper, Lewis, Robinson and Paisley Greenhaw all had a pair.
Scoring was nearly silenced against 4A power Mannford however as the lone DHS run came in the third inning when Sherrer was hit by a pitch and Lewis and Robinson followed with back-to-back singles.
