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Four area teams traveled to Missouri Southern State University on Thursday, for the Joplin Tournament. Three of those teams saw early success in day one of the three day tournament and the fourth saw improvements from some early season woes.
Neosho opened up the tournament with a rematch against Carl Junction, a team the Lady Wildcats beat 13-4 to open the season on Monday. The score changed, the result stayed the same as Neosho won 4-2. Haley Thogmartin pitched more than six innings of solid softball. She allowed two runs (both unearned) and struck out six.
“We scored first in the first inning, then one more in the second and two in the fourth. You always wonder how the team is going to respond when they play a team for the second time in such a short amount of time,” Neosho coach Melissa Clark said. “Catie Cummins did a great job of calling pitches and working with Haley. Morgan Rathmann did a great job at the plate, she reached base three times and scored two runs.”
Hailey Geller had two hits and two RBI. Cummins also had a big sacrifice fly and Thogmartin had two hits and an RBI.
Neosho will take on Park Hill South and Bartlesville toady at 11 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. respectively.
Courtni Smith’s bases loaded triple in the first inning woke up the Lady Mustangs’ offense and McDonald County cruised to an 8-0 win over Joplin.
“I feel like we have a team that can compete with anybody we play,” McDonald County coach Tray Shaddox said. “Carthage played us tough last year, but we think we’ll be ready. I haven’t seen Columbia (Rock Bridge) play, but I hear they’re very good and we are really looking forward to that challenge.”
Taylor Pearcy pitched the complete game shutout for the Lady Mustangs.
McDonald County closes pool play against Carthage and Columbia-Rock Bridge. The Carthage game begins tonight at 6 p.m. with the Rock Bridge game to immediately follow.
Seneca opened the tournament with a quick turnaround rematch with Diamond, a team they beat 20-0 on Tuesday. The score was closer, but the Lady Indians still won, 7-0.
“I thought we started a little bit flat, but the girls responded and we came away with the win,” Seneca coach Jeff Sill said. “We have a great opportunity to play two of the best Class 4 teams in the state and I am looking forward to seeing where we are. That’s why we came to this tournament. We want to see where our weaknesses are and continue to work on our strengths.”
Four area teams traveled to Missouri Southern State University on Thursday, for the Joplin Tournament. Three of those teams saw early success in day one of the three day tournament and the fourth saw improvements from some early season woes.
Neosho opened up the tournament with a rematch against Carl Junction, a team the Lady Wildcats beat 13-4 to open the season on Monday. The score changed, the result stayed the same as Neosho won 4-2. Haley Thogmartin pitched more than six innings of solid softball. She allowed two runs (both unearned) and struck out six.
“We scored first in the first inning, then one more in the second and two in the fourth. You always wonder how the team is going to respond when they play a team for the second time in such a short amount of time,” Neosho coach Melissa Clark said. “Catie Cummins did a great job of calling pitches and working with Haley. Morgan Rathmann did a great job at the plate, she reached base three times and scored two runs.”
Hailey Geller had two hits and two RBI. Cummins also had a big sacrifice fly and Thogmartin had two hits and an RBI.
Neosho will take on Park Hill South and Bartlesville toady at 11 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. respectively.
Courtni Smith’s bases loaded triple in the first inning woke up the Lady Mustangs’ offense and McDonald County cruised to an 8-0 win over Joplin.
“I feel like we have a team that can compete with anybody we play,” McDonald County coach Tray Shaddox said. “Carthage played us tough last year, but we think we’ll be ready. I haven’t seen Columbia (Rock Bridge) play, but I hear they’re very good and we are really looking forward to that challenge.”
Taylor Pearcy pitched the complete game shutout for the Lady Mustangs.
McDonald County closes pool play against Carthage and Columbia-Rock Bridge. The Carthage game begins tonight at 6 p.m. with the Rock Bridge game to immediately follow.
Seneca opened the tournament with a quick turnaround rematch with Diamond, a team they beat 20-0 on Tuesday. The score was closer, but the Lady Indians still won, 7-0.
“I thought we started a little bit flat, but the girls responded and we came away with the win,” Seneca coach Jeff Sill said. “We have a great opportunity to play two of the best Class 4 teams in the state and I am looking forward to seeing where we are. That’s why we came to this tournament. We want to see where our weaknesses are and continue to work on our strengths.”
Sill was impressed by a pair of sophomores in the win.
“I thought Bree (Cornett) did a good job at the plate, Bailey (Skelton) continues to hit the ball solid and Bree also did a good job in the circle,” Sill said. “(Cornett) struggled a little bit early, but she made the adjustments and that’s what we want to see out of her.”
Seneca will take on Blue Springs and Webb City today at 11 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.
Diamond is still looking for their first win, and their first run, of the season after a pair of shutout losses to open tournament play Thursday against Webb City and Seneca. Despite that, the coach was happy to see that his team is improving in the early season.
“We played better today,” Diamond coach Brian Brimacome said. “We were 0-0 going into the bottom of the fifth with Webb City before they got that big inning, probably one of the better teams in the area. We played Seneca a lot better today as well. We made pitches, but we still have some things to shore up defensively. I am more concerned with that than our offense because I feel like our hitting is about there. We are doing good things with our swings and I think that’s going to get a lot better. We are going to come out and try to get better for later on down the road.”
Diamond closes out bracket play today at 6 p.m. against Blue Springs.
