Platte County’s Emma Reed had an RBI double in the first inning of the Lady Pirates’ 11-7 victory over Park Hill South on Sept. 25.
PARKVILLE – The Platte County softball team (12-6) had a strong start and held on to that lead to take down Park Hill South (6-15) 11-7 on Sept. 25.
Five of the first seven Platte County batters had a hit in the first inning to go up 4-0. Park Hill South junior Erin Stewart had a home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the second inning, but the next three batters got out.
Emma Reed had an RBI double in the second inning and Platte County added three more runs in the top of the fourth inning to extend the lead to 8-1. Park Hill South didn’t go down without a fight, chipping at the deficit with two runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
Entering the seventh inning, the Lady Pirates were up 8-5 but they added three more runs with a 2-RBI double from Allison Riggs and RBI single by Morgan Shields. Trailing 11-5, the Lady Panthers had one last chance and had two batters walk after Danica Salisbury struck out her sixth batter.
Park Hill South followed that with back-to-back runs, but the last two batters got out and Platte County survived with a 4-run win. The Lady Pirates had 13 hits and the Lady Panthers had 10 hits on the night.
Park Hill South has been in a bit of a rut lately, having lost seven in a row with the three prior to Platte County being tight and on the road. The Lady Panthers lost 7-6 to St. Joseph’s Central (10-6), 8-7 to Battle with Columbia with Independent (5-14) and 9-6 to Liberty North (9-11).
Platte County, on the other hand, has now won its last four games which included an 11-inning grind of a victory over Kearney (15-5) on Sept. 19. The Lady Pirates led 7-6 entering the sixth inning when the Lady Bulldogs tied the game, and the ensuing four innings went scoreless.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, Anna Crowell and Evie Thrasher reached first and third bases when Avery Webster stepped up to the plate with two outs. Four pitches later, the senior singled on a line drive to center field and Crowell ran across home plate to secure the 8-7 walk-off victory.
The Lady Pirates also went on to beat Fort Osage (15-5) 8-5 on Sept. 21. Platte County will have three games left in the regular season starting with a conference road matchup with Raytown (5-5) on Sept. 28 and Park Hill South will host Lee’s Summit North (7-13) on Sept. 27.