BY JIM HENRY
Top-seeded Webb City parlayed Haidyn Berry's pitching with a 12-hit offense and blanked second-seeded Republic 4-0 Friday night in the Class 4 District 11 championship at the Fair Acres Softball Complex.
The Cardinals (20-6), who avenged last year's 7-6 loss to the Tigers in the district final, will open state tournament play at home on Wednesday against Raymore- Peculiar (23-5), which defeated Lee's Summit 13-0 in the District 12 title game. Berry, junior righthander, allowed five hits, struck out 12 batters and walked none. After Avery Romans' leadoff single in the second inning, Berry retired 14 consecutive batters until Megan Weis' double to right-center field with two outs in the sixth inning.
A.J. Fenske followed with a single up the middle to put runners at first and third, but Berry struck out the next batter on four pitches.
"Haidyn did a fantastic job," Cardinals coach Shauna Friend said. "She was in control the entire game and basically dominated in the circle. Her composure and the way she talks to her team, she's just a great team player."
"It's softball, and the circle can get after you pretty quick," Republic coach Lee Dishman said. "She did her job. We knew we had to try to get up on them early, and Haidyn did a good job getting on us early and often. Hats off to both teams. It was a good, hard-fought game, and this year they came out on top."
Seven batters contributed to the Cardinals' 12-hit attack, including a single and double by Stacy Tyndall and Taylor Harris and two singles by Keira Jackson, Alyssa Jennings and Karson Culver.
Unlike Thursday night's semifinal victory over Carthage, the Cardinals got on the scoreboard early.
Jackson singled with one out in the bottom of the first and scored on Tyndall's double down the left-field line. Tyndall was thrown out attempting to stretch the hit into a triple.
Tyndall singled with one out in the third inning, took second on Berry's grounder to third and scored on Jennings' single to center. Jennings took second on the throw to the plate, and Culver followed with an apparent RBI single to center, but Jennings was called out for interference against Republic shortstop Kaitlyn Ragsdale.
Taylor lined a double just inside the left-field line to start the Webb City fourth, and courtesy runner Brynna Cupp took third on Emma Welch's sacrifice. After Reanna Blinzler walked, Peyton Hawkins bunted to the right side, and Cupp beat first baseman Katie Anderson's throw to the plate to make it 3-0.
"The bunts were good to see because we're struggled a little bit with our small-ball game," Friend said. "Sometimes you just have to manufacture a run. We'd popped some bunts up in the last couple of weeks. Executing those bunts was a major factor because we scored every time we executed a sacrifice. ... Honestly, everyone did their job."
Consecutive one-out singles by Culver, Harris and pinch-hitter Kaylyn Gilbert produced Webb City's final run in the sixth.
Weis singled and doubled for Republic, and she was robbed of another hit by center fielder Tyndall's diving catch to end the third inning.
Joplin Globe 10/19/2019 (Used by permission)