An 11-run outing in the bottom of the sixth inning halted the chances of the Platte County softball team (13-14) winning another district title and making a deep postseason run as Kearney (23-8) came out with a 14-5 win in the Class 4 District 8 Championship on Oct. 15.
The Lady Pirates had a chance to win their third straight district championship, but one rough inning kept that from happening. Platte County never trailed in the first five innings and had a 5-3 lead when the sixth inning started, but Kearney rattled off 10 hits and 11 runs to take a late 14-5 lead.
Danica Salisbury started the game on the mound and only gave up five hits and three runs in the first five innings but was pulled before the third Kearney batter in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Lady Bulldogs had two base hits to start the inning to get a pair of runners on second and third bases when the Lady Pirates pulled the senior pitcher and put in sophomore Kallie Hitzelberger.
On the next at-bat, Hitzelberger had a 0-2 count before throwing a ball and giving up a 2-RBI double that tied the game at five. The next batter was walked, then Hitzelberger struck out a batter for the first out of the inning.
Kearney hit a line drive to shortstop Demi Riechers who had an error on the play, so the runner reached first base, and Platte County struggled to close out the inning from that point on. Hitzelberger gave up an RBI single on the next batter to give the Lady Bulldogs their first lead of the game at 6-5 and Platte County made another pitching change as Mackenzie Shields came in and gave up two straight RBI singles.
Shields walked the ensuing batter, loading the bases, and then Kearney had another RBI single to push the margin to 11-5. Avery Webster caught a pop fly in right field to put two outs on the board, but the Lady Bulldogs weren’t finished yet.
Kearney continued adding one run at a time, having the following three batters earn RBI singles to push the Platte County deficit to double digits. Second baseman Ava Carter caught a pop fly to finally close out the inning.
The Lady Pirates had one last inning to try to extend the game, trailing 14-5. Shields hit a pop fly on a 1-1 count, but it was caught and TaKayla Lawson was intentionally walked on the next at-bat.
Riechers hit a ground ball to third base and didn’t reach first base in time. With two outs, Salisbury struck out and Platte County was unable to keep its season alive.
After two straight seasons finishing in third place at state, the Lady Pirates’ fall ends short of any hardware for the first time since 2019. This was Platte County’s third straight trip to the Class 4 District 8 Championship and fourth consecutive district title game appearance.
The Lady Pirates had five seniors on this year’s team that helped them make two deep postseason runs before this fall. Platte County will have to say goodbye to Lawson, Riechers, Shields, Carter and Abby Reynolds after they all imprinted their legacies these past four years.
Platte County senior Takayla Lawson had two hits and three RBIs in the Lady Pirates semifinal win against Smithville on Oct. 13.
To reach the district championship, the Lady Pirates dominated in the opening two rounds of the tournament, outscoring their opponents 24-2. Being seeded third, Platte County shut out No. 6 seeded Winnetonka (9-9) by 15-0 on Oct. 11.
Smithville (17-15) was the next team on the Lady Pirates’ radar, and they took down the rival 9-2 on Oct. 13. While Platte County barely snuck past Smithville 5-4 in the only regular season matchup on Sept. 7, the Lady Pirates were in complete control from the get-go in the postseason game.
Platte County opened up the contest with two runs in the opening inning and held onto that 2-0 lead until Smithville tied up the game in the fourth inning. An RBI single by Shields and Lawson’s RBI double in the top of the fifth inning put the Lady Pirates back on the board.
Platte County added one run in the ensuing inning before putting the game away with some big hits in the top of the seventh inning. Shields had an RBI triple followed by a pair of solo home runs by Lawson and Riechers.
Salisbury was on the mound for the entire contest and only allowed two hits, while striking out six batters. The Lady Pirates had 10 hits, led by Lawson with two hits and three RBIs.