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Portageville sneaks past Kelly 1-0 to win Class 2, District 1 championship
PORTAGEVILLE -- She gave up no runs or hits and struck out four.
And no, that was't winning pitcher Taylor Tiffany's line. Those stats belong to Alexis Dock. The losing pitcher.
With no hits to show for, Portageville snuck past Kelly 1-0 during a Class 2, District 1 championship pitcher's duel Thursday at Dr. James A. Deere Field in Portageville.
It's the second straight district title for Portageville after beating Kelly for its first-ever championship last season which vaulted them into a third-place finish in Class 2.
"These girls have worked hard all year long and it's nice to go in the same direction that we went in last year," Portageville coach Ashlie Patton said. "They didn't give up at all, even with a no-hitter."
Portageville (21-5) will play the winner of District 2 on Wednesday at 5 p.m., during sectionals in Portageville. Jefferson and Valley Park play its district championship at 4:30 p.m., today.
"It's great," Tiffany said. "Just to win it again and get a chance to hopefully go to state. It's awesome."
Though the no-hitter went to the losing pitcher, Tiffany was just as dominant in a game that ended in heartbreaking fashion for Kelly.
Tiffany, who was an all-state pitcher a year ago and gave her commitment to NAIA power Auburn University at Montgomery in July, struck out 14 batters and allowed just one hit. She was also standing on third when disaster struck for Kelly.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, a ground ball from Portageville's Cayla Crafton skipped to Kelly second baseman Alyssa Moore. The ball was in between a hop when it bounced off Moore's knee and into right field. The error led to the game's only run by Tiffany, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning.
"Had she been up a step or back a step I think the play would have gone differently," Kelly coach Rhonda Ratledge said. "She was just caught right in the middle of a hop. But, that's softball."
Moore, a sophomore, like the rest of her team had been solid defensively up to that point. The Lady Hawks made the routine plays and catch after catch in the outfield to help Dock's efforts and keep a potentially dangerous Portageville lineup off the scoreboard.
The Lady Bulldogs put on an offensive display Sept. 17 when Kelly dropped an 8-0 decision behind three home runs from Portageville. Sophomore Kelsi Miller, who leads Portageville in hits, RBIs and home runs, hit two long balls during that matchup and as unintentionally, intentionally walked three times on Thursday.
"We wanted to stay away from her," Ratledge said about Miller. "This is the same spot and same team and they beat us 8-0 last time. Dock was definitely hitting her spots better this time around."
The strategy paid off as Dock and the rest of her defense didn't allow a base runner to second until the sixth inning. A diving catch by Hunter Bryant and an over the shoulder grab by McKynlee Neumeyer kept Kelly and Dock in the game.
"She didn't have as many strikeouts as Tiffany, but that's okay," Ratledge said about Dock and her defense. "We also focus on getting our fielders and outfielders ready as well. You can't always rely on that pitcher because there's going to be days where that pitcher won't always perform. My girls played errorless until that last hit."
Tiffany improved her record to 21-4 and has 355 strikeouts on the season. She set the Missouri state record last year with 391 and got quickly to work against Kelly.
The senior struck out seven of the first eight batters she faced and had nine strikeouts by the end of the fourth inning.
"My screwball inside was working really well for me today," said Tiffany. "The first couple of innings it was awesome. I was on."
And Kelly knew a fast start by Tiffany was likely.
"Tiffany kept us rattled a little bit the first couple of innings," Ratledge said. "We knew that's what she would do to us because you have to get used to seeing that pitcher and settle in. We knew the first three innings were going to be pretty tough."
Kelly (16-10) put a runner on second after an error by Portageville second baseman Shelby Rone to start the sixth inning, but that's as close as they would come to score. Moore started the top of the seventh with Kelly's only hit, but Tiffany worked two strikeouts and fielded a sacrifice bunt to get out of the inning unharmed.
"Our whole strategy was to just try and put that ball in play," Ratledge said. "We put it in play and try to make something happen and it worked. They made a few errors and put us on base."
Tiffany was hit by a Dock delivery to start the bottom of the seventh. A ground ball out by Savannah Lovins moved Tiffany to second, and another diving catch by Bryant in right field nearly kept Tiffany at second until Portageville's hurler tagged up and sprinted to third.
Crafton did what a lot of her teammates couldn't and squared a pitch towards the right side of the infield. Moore went to her left while the ball caromed off her knee.
"I was really nervous," Crafton said. "It was just anxiousness and nervousness and trying to stay focused with everybody in the background hollering. It was a great experience. I was watching (Moore) and I was hoping for something like that to happen. It was amazing. I just thought to my self, 'My gosh, we just won a district championship my freshman year.' It was amazing."
Tiffany crossed the plate without a play to send Portageville into a frenzy.
"The first thing that comes out of my mouth is a scream," Tiffany said. "I touch home plate and just go to Cayla and tackle her. It was awesome to see that play happen."
It's the second time in as many years that Portageville has knocked out perennial power Kelly in a district championship game. Kelly has won 26 district titles in the last 30 years and, most recently, Dock led the Lady Hawks to a state semifinal appearance her freshman and sophomore years.
"We've got young girls and they work hard," Ratledge said. "We're very excited about the way they played. There's nothing for our girls to hang their heads about. I fell bad for our seniors (Dock and Neumeyer), but they've been a part of some state teams and had good careers with us."
Kelly 000 000 0 -- 0 1 1
Portageville 000 000 1 -- 1 0 2
WP -- Taylor Tiffany. LP -- Alexis Dock.