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ORIENT – The Murray Lady Mustangs walked away with the hardware at the Orient-Macksburg softball tournament, winning over Lenox in the final 8-1 Saturday night.
To get to the final, an 8-8 Murray team had to go through Melcher-Dallas in its first game of the semifinal Saturday afternoon.
After a convincing win over Diagonal Wednesday the Lady Mustangs drew a Melcher-Dallas team that was winners of 13 of its last 14 games, including a 2-1 win in Murray June 1. Entering Saturday, the Saints were 13-2.
The Lady Mustangs came out gunning for revenge, jumping on the Saints early with eight quick runs to put a firm hold on the game.
A combination of Saints errors and hits finding holes moved runners around the bases efficiently for the Lady Mustangs. A two RBI single from Hailey Chew ended scoring in the top of the first to make it 8-0 before the Saints had an opportunity to step in the box.
“One of the concerns was if we were going to hold them or if they were going to come back. So we kind of stayed in attack mode I think because of the recent losses that we’ve had,” said Murray head coach Danny Jensen. “We kind of just put the hammer down, I think.”
With a dominant Kayla Wookey in the circle with a rather comfortable cushion, the Saints were able to plate two en route to a 13-2 loss in five innings.
The Saints added one in their half of the first and another in the third, but a run scored on a passed ball by Kendra Boles gave the Mustangs the differential to run-rule the Saints in five innings of play.
Chew’s day at the plate in game one ended 3-for-4, scoring once and plating the two runs. Boles, Teryn Shields and Chloe Church all had two hits. In total the Mustangs had 13 hits to go with their 13-run onslaught.
Murray then played the nightcap of the day, playing Lenox in the championship game.
After taking Nodaway Valley to the wire the game prior, the Tigers kept the game a pitcher’s duel as TJ Stoaks and Murray’s Bre Klein battled through three innings of scoreless ball.
Both sides broke the scoreless game in the fourth as the Lady Mustangs scored four off Stoaks, who had an ERA under one entering Saturday.
After a leadoff double from Kelli Romero, Klein roped one into the outfield to break the scoreless tie at 1-0.
Boles added to the scoring by trading places with Klein, doubling in the gap. Church followed a Bailey Frederick single to score both Boles and Frederick to make it 4-0.
The Mustangs added on four more through the later innings, making it eight runs off a Pride of Iowa pitcher that had allowed more than five runs in a game once this season.
“We knew we had to go out and hit,” said Jensen. “TJ is just phenomenal. She’s had a great year with over 120 strikeouts. ... We had the mentality that we had to get after that first pitch and once we got it going, I think all the girls thought that maybe they can get a hit too.”
The lead for Klein in the circle put her in cruise control through the final out, allowing the one run off a Stoaks sacrifice bunt that scored Cassidy Nelson after a leadoff triple.
Klein’s pitching line was nearly unblemished, allowing two hits and the one earned run through seven innings of work. She struck out 13 and walked two.
On the other end, Stoaks went the distance with four strikeouts and one walk. She allowed five earned runs.
A long week for Stoaks that included pitching all six scheduled games led her head coach in Mandy Stoaks thinking she had run out of steam in the final game of the week.
“She was out of gas. She pitched every inning we’ve had all season and this was a really big week,” said Mandy Stoaks. “She just didn’t have the pop tonight, her balls weren’t moving very good, but you’ve got to give them (Murray) the credit. They hit really well and found our holes.”
UP NEXT – Lenox softball gets back in action today (Monday) as it hosts Shenandoah. First pitch for the Tigers comes at 7 p.m. Murray will make the trip to Leon to play Central Decatur with first pitch coming at 5:30 p.m.
Championship game
Murray 8, Lenox 1
R H E
Murr 000 401 3 — 8 10 1
Len 000 100 0 — 1 2 2
V: Bre Klein 13K 2BB and Michelle McBurney. Lenox: TJ Stoaks 4K 1BB and Lauren Christensen. W — Klein (5-4). L - Stoaks (12-4). HR — none. 3B — Lenox: Cassidy Nelson. 2B — Murr: Kendra Boles, Bailey Frederick, Kelli Romero, Kayla Wookey, Chloe Church, Klein. RBI — Murr: Wookey (3), Katy Gibbs (2), Church (2), Boles. Lenox: Stoaks.