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Sikeston softball reaches first district final in history
CAPE GIRARDEAU -- What a difference a year has made for the Sikeston Lady Bulldogs.
This time last year Sikeston was wrapping up a 6-16 campaign that unceremoniously ended with an 11-1 rout by Hillsboro in the opening round of Class 4, District 1 tournament.
On Tuesday the third-seeded Lady Bulldogs made program history by advancing to the district title game for the first time with a 4-0 upset of second-seeded Ste. Genevieve in the semifinals.
"It's a big step in the right direction," Sikeston head coach Eric Voorhees said. "It's what we talked about whenever I took over the program and it certainly didn't happen last year in terms of being 6-16 and not performing in districts like we would have liked. But to be in title game for the first time is a tribute to the hard work our players have put in. It's big for us, we're blessed to be in it and we hope we play well."
Besides propelling them into a championship matchup against top-seeded Notre Dame, the win leaves Sikeston at 15-12 on the season and pushing their season's best win-streak to five.
While the offense eventually came around, senior pitcher Madison Smith was steady through seven innings of shutout ball. She held the Lady Dragons to only two hits, two walks and struck out one.
Both of Ste. Genevieve's hits came in the first two innings with Smith only allowing two runners in the final four frames, one off a free pass and another off an error.
"I'm always nervous, but I knew our team could do it and we did," Smith said of the win. "I definitely could have done better, but for the most part I think I did well."
Sikeston gave their hurler an early lead when Ashton Drake drew a one-out walk in the top of the second inning before being driven in by a triple from Madeline Witt.
Still up 1-0 in the fifth frame, the Lady Bulldogs got some much-needed insurance with a two-run outburst that started with a double from Kyle Noe.
Maggie Shepherd drew a walk to put runners on first and second and Hanna Placek hit a bases-clearing, two-out double to put her team up 3-0.
Placek doubled again in the top of the seventh and eventually came home on a wild pitch to make up the 4-0 final.
With storms quickly moving and threatening to delay the finish, Smith came out in the bottom of the seventh and got three-straight groundouts to end the game minutes before lightning started streaking across the sky.
"It feels amazing," senior lead-off hitter Myca Martin said. "It feels like we're changing the culture of Sikeston softball."
Outhitting the Lady Dragons 11-2, the Lady Bulldogs were led by freshman Kylie Noe, who went 3 for 4 with a double and a run scored. Placek added two doubles to the cause, driving in two runs and scoring another.
Ashton Drake finished with two hits and walk to reach three times while Witt and Natalie Regenold triple and doubled respectively.
"You'd like to see more runs pushed across here and there, but we hit really well and made good decisions," Voorhees said. "We made a couple base running errors, but we put the bat on the ball."
Though the championship game was schedule to start immediately following Sikeston and Ste. Genevieve's contest, storms prevented the teams from ever taking the field.
Weather permitting, Sikeston will face Notre Dame today at 4 p.m. at Notre Dame high School.
In the regular season, Notre Dame won both contests between the squads, 7-1 and 13-6 respectively.
"We've improved a lot and I think we can hang," Smith said. "We're not here to give up. We're in it to win it."
Sikeston 010 020 1 - 4
Ste. Genevieve 000 000 0 - 0
WP -- Madison Smith. LP -- Megan Huck. Multiple hitters: (S) Kylie Noe 3-4, Hanna Placek 2-4, Ashton Drake 2-2. 2B -- (S) Placek 2, Noe, Natalie Regenold; (SG) Makayla Bader. 3B -- (S) Madeline Witt.