Platte County’s Haley Schank helped the Lady Pirates’ win three of their five games in the Greater KC Softball Tournament on August 25 and 26.
INDEPENDENCE – The Platte County softball team (3-2) had a dominant outing in pool play in the Greater Kansas City Softball Tournament before dropping a pair of games to Class 5 opponents and capping the weekend off with a win.
Platte County opened the fall off with two games at Truman High School, winning by a combined score of 22-5 on August 25. The Lady Pirates had an 8-run outburst in the bottom of the third inning of the 10-3 season opening win over Truman (0-3).
The Lady Pirates took a short break then were back at it against St. Joseph’s Lafayette and had a similar performance. The Lady Pirates went up 4-0 early in the bottom of the second inning thanks to a 2-RBI triple by Reagan Ball.
Anna Crowell helped Platte County add to that lead with a double to left field in the ensuing inning. The Lady Irish put two runs on the board before the Lady Pirates scored six unanswered in the next two innings with eight hits.
Starting pitcher Danica Salisbury had an injury after the first batter in the Truman game and was out the rest of the day but returned the next day. Ball struck out four batters against Truman, while Bryli Seifert had eight strikeouts versus Lafayette.
Platte County outhit Lee’s Summit West (3-2) but didn’t make the most of its scoring opportunities and lost 5-3 on August 26. The Lady Titans took an early 5-0 lead through the first two innings.
Platte County responded in the top of the third inning, starting with a triple to center field by Avery Webster. Morgan Shields had a sacrifice bunt in the next at-bat, sending Webster home.
The first three Lady Pirate batters in the top of the fifth inning were walked, but they were only able to add one run to the scoreboard. Crowell had a sacrifice fly and Shields scored – narrowing the deficit to 5-3 – before Kallie Hitzelberger and Seifert both flied out to end the inning.
Emma Reed doubled on a line drive to left field and was caught out stealing later in the inning. Evie Thrasher was walked, Webster grounded out and Shields struck out looking in Platte County’s last chance to extend the game.
The Lady Pirates had a rough time against Grain Valley, allowing 11 hits and losing 9-1. Webster had an RBI double in the top of the second inning for her team’s only run.
After back-to-back losses against bigger schools, Platte County bounced back with a 6-5 win over Lee’s Summit (3-0) thanks to late heroics by Shields. In a tie game with one runner on, Shields connected on a pop fly to right field and the winning run scored.
Platte County never led until the final play, going behind 4-0 in the second inning. Hitzelberger singled on a line drive to center field to push Crowell across home plate and the Lady Tigers matched that one run in the top of the third inning.
Platte County chipped at the 4-run deficit in the bottom of the fourth inning when three players had a hit, two were walked and Crowell had a sacrifice fly RBI to bring the game within one run. Hitzelberger tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with an RBI double.
Platte County will hit the road, heading to Blue Springs (1-0) on August 31 and will have some time off until its next game. That will be at Park Hill on September 5.