Kirksville JV Upends Previously Unbeaten Knox County Ladies

Kirksville JV Upends Previously Unbeaten Knox County Ladies

By David Sharp

   A fired up Kirksville Lady Tiger junior
varsity softball team scored two runs in the first inning of a Knox County
Tournament championship semi-final match up and went on to a 5-0 victory over
host Knox County. The Lady Eagles (4-1) allowed three runs on wild pitches.

   Kirksville freshman Keira Schilling
dominated a normally hard-hitting Knox County lineup. Schilling took a perfect
game into the seventh inning. Hannah Dale broke up the bid with a clean single
into the hole between shortstop and third base.

   Lady Tiger third baseman Jaiden Patterson
made two eye popping defensive plays, robbing Hannah Dale and Myra Parrish of
fourth inning hits. Keira Schilling was the winning pitcher with seven strikeouts
and no walks. Schilling is the daughter of Knox County R-I alum Stacy Sykes.

   Kirksville was in the Class 3 softball
final four last season. The Lady Tiger varsity won the Putnam County Tournament
the same day defeating Chillicothe in the title game.

   The Lady Tiger JV beat defending Class 1
third place Canton in the first round. Kirksville is loaded with well-coached,
talented young athletes. The Lady Tigers out played all comers and won the 2009
KC Tournament championship.

   “That JV team would beat a lot of varsity
teams that we play,” said Knox County coach Stephanie Crawford. “I don’t want
to take any credit away from them. They are a good ball club. We just didn’t
get the job done today.”

   “The girls are slumping at the plate right
now. I would rather see this now than later in the season when it counts,” said
Crawford. “It’s tough to take your first loss to a JV team. The girls are
pretty upset. We are just trying to find our way back into a groove.”

   “We haven’t seen the ball hit that hard at
us all year. They put the ball in play,” said Stephanie Crawford. “We got to
see where our weaknesses are and where we need to work.”

   Kenzie Bevill went 2-3 with two Kirksville
runs scored. Kendyl Blanke was 2-3 with a double and a Kirksville RBI. The Lady
Tigers scored five runs on six hits and no errors. Kirksville left six runners
on base.

   Brittany Miller (4-1) struck out five in
six innings pitched and took the loss. Miller and KCHS catcher Lorrie Peters
collided going for a pop fly early in the game.