Booneville Surpasses Lady Wolves For Regional Title

—A showcase between two of the best pitchers in Class 3A softball, Lincoln freshman Brinkley Moreton versus Booneville sophomore Lexi Franklin, in a regional championship became a scoring contest.

Both lineups including each pitcher consistently hit off the opposing hurler with Booneville (26-1) outlasting the Lady Wolves, 13-11, in a rescheduled game played on Monday, May 9 at Greenland.

“That was a really good game. It was back and forth. They came out hot,” said Lincoln coach Brittany Engel.

Franklin hit two triples and reached third on an error for the Lady Bearcats while Moreton doubled during a 6-run second inning surge by Lincoln (28-6) driving in a run. She later homered in the top of the seventh drawing the Lady Wolves within 13-11.

“On the second pitch of her at- bat, she smoked a home run to centerfield,” Engel said.

Engel thought that might spark a comeback because the team got fired up, but Lincoln couldn’t push any more runs across and had to settle for a No. 2 seed going into the Class 3A State tournament at Harrison.

Lincoln took a 1- 0 lead out of the gate, but the Lady Wolves found themselves down 3-1 after one inning, a deficit which escalated to 7-1 in the second inning with Franklin blasting a pair of two-run triples for the Lady Bearcats.

The Lady Wolves refused to go away, however, and engineered a 6-run rally of their own in the third.

Ryleigh Landrum started the explosion by singling. Moreton doubled to drive in a run, Amber Bryant drew a walk and catcher Lily Riherd hit the first of a trio of base hit bunts to load the bases. Kristen Rhine drove a double into center field plating a pair of runs trimming the margin to 7-4. Addie Pershall lined out, but the ball went deep enough to allow Riherd to tag up at third and score with Rhine moving to third.

Sophomore Ashlyn Khilling, playing in the place of senior outfielder Alexandra Torres who was ejected in controversial ruling during Lincoln’s semifinal win over Hackett, singled into right field, plating Rhine. Zella Pomeroy doubled into center field, scoring the tying run, and Lincoln pulled even at 7-7.

“The bottom of the lineup really did their job,” said Lincoln assistant coach Brooklyn Keeling.

Moreton struck out the side in the bottom of the inning and Lincoln captured its second lead of the game in the top of the fourth. Saylor Stidham and Bryant walked to put two runners on base.

Riherd laid down a bunt single. She was safe at first but Franklin’s glove toss to first sailed high, allowing Stidham and Bryant to score and pushing Lincoln in front 9-7. Riherd got an extra base, benefiting from Booneville’s throwing error. She eventually moved to third and Lincoln got another runner to second before Franklin eased out of the inning with a pair of strikeouts.

Booneville answered in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff single into center field. Franklin then hit a fly ball into the left field and used her speed to go all the way to third on an error. A run scored on the error drawing Booneville within 9-8.

Tate’s two-run homer over the right field wall gave the Lady Bearcats a 10-9 lead.

Lincoln didn’t score in the top of the fifth and Booneville added three runs on another error in the outfield that wound up becoming an in-the-park home run that put the Lady Wolves in a 13-9 hole.

Lincoln missed the fleetfooted Torres on those crucial plays but in fairness to her replacement, Khilling, a sophomore, hadn’t got many reps and had never played that position before Torres’ ejection against Hackett.

“I’m still not sure she should have been ejected,” Engel said.

In the top of the sixth, Riherd recorded her third bunt single of the game. She moved to second on a passed ball, but couldn’t advance beyond third when Rhine got out on a fly ball. Pershall singled to plate Riherd as Lincoln closed the gap to 13-10.

Moreton knocked a home run over the left field wall, narrowing the score to 13-11 in the top of the seventh, but the Lady Wolves couldn’t sustain the rally and Booneville took the No. 1 seed, while Lincoln went into state as a No. 2 seed against Hoxie.