Flora comes up big for East Webster during state championship run

Just last week, Peyton Flora came through for East Webster with a three-run triple in the top of the seventh inning that took a one-run lead over East Union out to a comfortable advantage.

That big hit helped the Lady Wolverines to the Class 2A North State Championship and a berth in the state finals for the first time since 2016. It also earned her OCH Regional Medical Center Athlete of the Week.

Flora duplicated that performance from that series but one-upped it in the state title games against Lake. In two run-rule wins, the junior shortstop was 5-of-8 with a double, five runs scored and an RBI to grab Most Valuable Player honors and help lead East Webster to the Class 2A championship. For a second-straight week, she's the OCH Player of the Week.

East Webster head coach John Harris wasn't surprised that things came through for Flora because she's been doing it all season. She was doing it early on in her career, but not as consistently. Now she has what she needs to make her one of the best in the state at her position.

“Confidence is something that you want to see,” Harris said. “You know what all of them are capable of in practice and sometimes they don't take that confidence to the field and apply it, but getting that experience and confidence, you're starting to see her potential.”

That confidence was hard for Flora to hide as smooth as she played the field and saw it at the plate.

In the first game of the series, the Lady Wolverines rolled over Lake 14-1 in six innings and Flora went 2-for5. She came back in game two and led each of the first three innings off with hits and finished 3-for-3 in a 11-1 final in just five frames.

“I just went up there knowing I was going to hit the ball and knowing I was going to do it for my team,” Flora said. “If we wanted to get where we ended, someone had to step up. I knew that it was my job to get it started for us.

“I told the girls (Thursday) that this is the biggest platform we were going to be on this year and to go out there, have no regrets and have fun while doing it. We came out and had no worries. We just came out and played how we knew to play.”

This junior season was Flora's best. She led the team in batting average with an amazing .547 performance at the plate in 34 games. She also led them with 70 hits