West Greene started the District 1-2A Tournament on Monday afternoon and kept their season alive with a 9-5 win over Johnson County at Reece Baughard Field.
“We’re feeling good. Job ain’t done yet though. Still got to go finish,” Head Coach Clinton Haun said.
The Lady Buffaloes entered the game as the No. 3 seed needing a win to advance into Tuesday’s semifinal round. They never really got going, but pulled out the right stops in the right situations to build an eight-run lead and held off a comeback attempt from the Lady Longhorns.
They now step into another win or go home situation on Tuesday with the South Greene Lady Rebels. They will travel to South Greene for their semifinal game with the opportunity to advance into Thursday’s championship game.
“The MO is to go play. Main thing is compete. Compete from start to finish. Whatever happens keep your head up and play through it. Whatever happens happens,” Haun mentioned.
Morgan Brown, in potentially her last game at West Greene, left it all on the field and went a perfect 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs. Brown also started in the circle and turned in 6 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and one earned run.
“She’s a warrior. It don’t matter what kind of ball you put in her hands. She’s an athlete and she’s going to go compete,” Coach Haun said.
Hayley Arnold and Abby Cluesman joined her with multi-hit performances. Arnold was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs. Cluesman was 2-for-2 with a walk, two RBIs, and one run. Cluesman also came in to close the game and didn’t allow a run or hit in the two batters she faced.
In the first three innings the Lady Buffs seemed to only do well when two outs were displayed on the scoreboard. After allowing a run in the first they went on the attack to get them back and managed to take a 2-1 lead after one. inning of action.
With two outs Arnold singled to score Aubree Everett. Kaylee Willett helped Arnold get home next with another RBI-single.
West Greene did more damage with two outs in the third and scored three runs this time. The Lady Buffaloes loaded the bases with no outs and almost had their momentum killed with a double play, but were still able to keep their heads level and fought through the adversity.
Arnold hit a very hard ground ball to the left side of the infield and forced Johnson County to commit an error. That scored Chloie Reams and Morgan Brown. Abby Cluesman singled to help Arnold score again. West Greene left the bases loaded when the inning ended, but not before taking a 5-1 lead.
“Just like we talked about a couple weeks ago, our two-out hitting hadn’t been very good. Today it came through when we needed it. We’ve got to keep progressing on with that,” Haun mentioned.
While it seemed like West Greene dominated from start to finish that wasn’t necessarily the case. Johnson County left nine runners stranded through the duration of the game. West Greene was able to get out of every jam through the first six innings.
The fifth inning was where West Greene scored the runs that mattered the most in hindsight. It scored three in the frame and ultimately needed those, seeing how the Lady Longhorns reached the five-run mark in the seventh.
Kaylee Willett singled into the outfield with Arnold on first and she ran from first to third. On the slide into third the ball rolled out of play and gave Arnold the opportunity to jog home and score. Cluesman lined a ball into left field next and gave Willett the passage to score. Cluesman would later score in an unusual way, and sprinted home from third on a dropped third strike throw to first base. Their lead ballooned to 8-1 after the fifth.
They went back to only scoring with two outs to score their final run. Arnold punished a ball to the left field gap and helped Brown score. They led 9-1 needing only three outs to win the game, but they didn’t come easy. They let four runs score in the ninth, but the switch from Brown to Cluesman in the circle threw Johnson County off their rhythm and closed the deal.
West Greene claimed a 9-5 win over Johnson County to keep its season alive and advance to the District 1-2A semifinals. It will play South Greene at 5:30 on Tuesday for a spot in Thursday’s championship game.
