With a chance to win its first postseason game since 2016, the West Platte softball team (11-10) fell behind early and couldn’t catch up to Plattsburg (14-12) in the Class 2 District 7 Tournament on Oct. 12.
West Platte’s Emma Downing bunts in the postseason loss in the Class 2 District 7 Tournament against Plattsburg on Oct. 12.
While the Lady Blue Jays were the higher seed and had taken down the Lady Tigers in the one regular season matchup this season, the postseason meeting had a different ending. With the district tournament being at Perkins Park in Plattsburg, the Lady Tigers were in familiar territory and took control early.
Plattsburg took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second with an RBI single line drive to center field. In the first three innings, the only times West Platte made it on base were after Plattsburg had an error.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Lady Blue Jays opened up with a pair of singles by Sophie Grier and Emily VanNatta – who reached first base on a fielder’s choice when Grier was tagged out – but the inning ended with two strikeouts by Madisyn Matlick and Colby Shepardson. Plattsburg added one run to the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when a single and a West Platte error put the Lady Tigers in position to score.
The Lady Tigers doubled their run total in the bottom of the fifth inning, which could’ve been prevented with a caught third strike after there were two outs. After the dropped third strike, the Lady Tigers had three consecutive singles to take a 4-0 advantage.
West Platte finally found its way onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh inning that started with Hailey Deffenbaugh reaching first base on an error and Remi McColley doubling on a line drive to left field. Laura Hill and Emma Downing both had RBI singles in the inning and with two runners on and two outs, VanNatta grounded out to give West Platte its sixth straight first round exit in districts.
Plattsburg’s pitcher struck out eight batters and West Platte had seven hits on the night, led by Grier with two. VanNatta closed out her West Platte career with three strikeouts as she spent all seven innings on the mound.
The Lady Blue Jays have now finished with exactly 11 wins in three of the last four seasons and they’ve ended with winning back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2013-14. West Platte will have to replace four seniors when it takes the field next fall.