Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Moreton strikes out 19 batters in win
Lady Wolves are repeat district 3A-1 champions
LINCOLN — Brinkley Moreton racked up a season-high 19 strikeouts as Lincoln beat Valley Springs, 8-2, to win the 3A-1 District softball tournament for the second straight year Saturday.
Moreton dominated from start to finish, throwing a two-hitter and walking one. Valley Springs didn’t get a hit until the top of the seventh inning when Tinley Williams singled. She stole second and moved to third when Stevie Jennings made contact. Moreton struck out the next batter and Lincoln almost maintained the shutout but Williams scored on a passed ball. A second run scored on an error, but Moreton put the kabosh on any ideas the Lady Tigers entertained about a comeback by striking out Ava Johnson.
Moreton’s quick to give credit to catcher Lily Riherd.
“Lily helped a bunch behind the plate. She’s done pretty good this year with that and that helps out a lot,” Moreton said.
Lincoln pushed four runs across in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Ryleigh Landrum (2 for 3) walked and Moreton (2 for 3, home run, 4 RBIs) promptly drove her in with a standup double. Saylor Stidham (1 for 3) went after an 0-2 pitch and reached on an error. Junior Amber Bryant scored a run on a groundout.
Senior Lily Riherd (1 for 4) singled into left field to drive in a run. Addie Pershall (1 for 3) got tagged out trying for second, while driving in a run as the Lady Wolves assumed a 4-0 lead.
“We started off hot, we started off really strong and took a 4-0 lead pretty quickly and then their pitcher kind of stalled us out a little bit and it took us a little bit to get going again. Then they made the pitching change and we started to hit again,” said Lincoln coach Brittany Engel.
The score stayed 4-0 until the sixth inning as a battle emerged between Moreton and Jennings, who pitched for Valley Springs.
“I thought our pitchers did a good job of trying to mix it up a little bit with them. They’re just good. Their top three or four hitters really hit the ball well. Brinkley’s as good as anybody around and I was proud that my kids kept battling and kept scratching and got a couple of hits in that last inning and scored a couple runs,” said Valley Springs coach Steve Williams.
In the bottom of the sixth, Kristine Rhine reached on an error. She was replaced by pinch-runner, Cam Crawford, who scooted around to score on Juliet Martinez’ single. Martinez’ timely hit broke a string of fruitless at-bats for the Lady Wolves. Martinez was 2 for 3.
“She’s a clutch hitter, she does that a lot for us,” Engel said.
Valley Springs coach Steve Williams then changed pitchers, bringing in sophomore Macy Davis. Davis induced a pop-up to get an out, but gave up a single to Landrum and a 3-run homer to Moreton that extended Lincoln’s lead to 8-0.
Stidham singled but Davis retired the next two batters to keep the Lady Tigers within eight runs going into the seventh inning.
Engel noted benefits of staying
away from a less favorable first-round matchup in this week’s regional that comes with winning the 3A-1 District Tournament.
“I think it’s pretty important to get the No. 1 seed in our tournament just so you get matched up with the four seed and have the best likelihood of making it to the state tournament, especially with the region that we’re matched up with, it’s a pretty tough region with both Booneville and Hackett in there. So getting that first-round that’s not Booneville or Hackett is the best scenario,” Engel said. “We’re really excited for next week and hoping to come out No. 1 in the region.”
LINCOLN 13, FLIPPIN 3
The Lady Wolves (22-8) won 13-3 by run-rule against Flippin on Friday to advance to the the 3A-1 championship.
Moreton (2 for 3, 4 RBIs) fired a no-hitter and belted a three-run homer for Lincoln. Rhine was 2 for 3 with a double and Landrum had a two-run triple. Bryant (1 for 3), Martinez (1 for 1) and Stidham (1 for 4, 1 RBI) also had hits, while Riherd walked three times.
“There weren’t a lot of balls put into play. Brinkley had nine strikeouts,” Engel said.
The Lady Wolves scored two runs in the first and three in the second to get out to a 5-0 lead. Flippin came back with two runs in the top of the third only to roust the Wolfpack into producing four runs in the bottom half of the third, along with three more in the fourth.
Each team scored one run in the fifth before Lincoln reached the run-rule margin.
“On Thursday, we got up quick on Flippin and we kind of stalled out, kind of like we did Friday. I think we just got a little comfortable. Then they scored a couple of runs and we realized like, ‘oh, we got to turn it back on again,’ and then we took care of business,” Engel said.