West Platte sophomore Sophie Grier high fives her third base coach while she rounds the base and heads home in her fourth home run of the season, which ended up being the game-winning hit, in the Lady Blue Jays’ first win over Lawson since 2013 on Sept. 26.
WESTON – Sophie Grier came up clutch with her fourth home run of the season to help the West Platte softball team (14-4) snap a decade-long losing streak to Lawson (12-6) on Sept. 26.
Before the 5-4 win, West Platte lost nine in a row dating back to its last win in the series – a 5-0 victory on Sept. 24, 2013. Grier was crucial on the day, striking out nine batters on defense and having three of her team’s six hits on offense.
Lawson went up 4-0 through two innings and while it looked like history was going to repeat itself, West Platte fought back in the bottom of the third inning. Two of the first three Lady Blue Jays got out as Hailey Deffenbaugh doubled.
Grier connected with a ground ball to center field to send Deffenbaugh home for West Platte’s first run of the game. Morgan VanNatta singled to put another runner on, and Lawson had errors on back-to-back plays, giving up two runs in the process.
Maize French singled on a line drive to right field to tie the game, 4-4. The bases got loaded with a walk, but Emma Downing was called out on batters’ interference to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Grier had a solo home run – her third in the last two weeks – to take a 5-4 lead. Lawson only had one more hit the rest of the way and West Platte walked away with its first win against the KCI rival in 10 years.
That triumph marked four straight for West Platte before it lost 4-3 to Plattsburg (16-4) on Sept. 28. The contest went scoreless in the first four innings until Molly Cline had a 2-run sacrifice fly.
Plattsburg had a big sixth inning, singling thrice and having two doubles to take a 4-2 lead.
West Platte had a chance to come back, putting another run on the board with an RBI ground out by Brook Allison.
Cline was hit by a pitch and Downing reached on an error to load the bases, but Deffenbaugh’s line drive was caught for the third out to decide the game. Five different West Platte batters had a hit, while Grier had four strikeouts on the mound.
West Platte went on to sneak past North Andrew (6-8) 7-6 on Oct. 2. The Lady Blue Jays will have one more game ahead of the postseason as they head to Lathrop (4-13) on Oct. 5.