West Platte ended a 25-game losing streak dating to the end of the 2014 season and found a way to do so in dramatic fashion.
In a matchup with St. Pius X on Tuesday, Aug. 23, the Bluejays were down five runs after four innings but scored 15 unanswered in the final two frames to take a run rule victory at Benner Park in Weston, Mo. Sikoya Richard and Taylor McNair finished with three hits apiece while Sydney Sweeden, Makayla Wardlow and Alyssa Knox added two each.
West Platte collected 10 of its 16 hits in an 11-run bottom of the sixth inning.
Richard started the comeback in the fifth with a single to left field, and the Bluejays scored four in the frame to close within 6-5. Karah Dunham, a freshman, kept St. Pius off the board in the top of the sixth, setting the stage for the huge final rally.
McNair and Wardlow each had a double, while Dunham and Richard had triples. McNair and Rachel Heili led West Platte with three RBIs apiece.
West Platte went winless last season after advancing to the Class 2 District 15 championship game in 2014. Bailee Giger took over as head coach late this summer, and her tenure started out with three losses in the North Platte Invitational on the opening Saturday of the season.
The West Platte Invitational, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 29, ended up rained out. Tentatively, the round robin is rescheduled for Saturday, Aug. 10.
Lafayette 6, North Platte 3
The Panthers scored three runs in the bottom of the first but managed just three more baserunners after that in a loss Friday, Aug. 26 at Dean Park in Dearborn, Mo.
Lafayette, a Class 3 state semifinalist last year, scored three in the second, took the lead with one in the fourth and tacked on two more in the fifth. Jordan Smith gave up all six runs, including two unearned and Maddie Dollar’s go-ahead home run in the fourth.
North Platte’s McKenna Fulton walked in the top of the first, and Kyra Patch reached on a one-out error. Smith followed with a two-run double to put the Panthers up 2-0.
Gracie Roach followed with an RBI double, but she ended up stranded at second. Smith doubled and Roach walked with two outs in the second, but Lafayette faced the minimum in the final four innings, allowing only Alley Rickel’s fifth-inning double with two outs.