Raiderettes come back against Lady Tigers to win championship
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The Raiderettes pose with their trophy, held by the teams lone senior, Caroline McAlexander (front middle). The Raiderettes fought through, Orient-Macksburg, Murray and Lenox to win the trophy. Your Raiderettes are: Front: MaKayla Jones, Kaylie Shields, MaKenna Jones, Tabby Henle, Caroline McAlexander, Alexa Anderson, Samantha Stewart, Rachel Sobotka. Back: Coach Carley Carrall, Channler Henle, Adalyn Reynolds, Kaycee Klommhaus, Jaycee Knight, Mallory Weehler, Tegan Streit, Eva Sobotka, Linsie Barnes, Zoey Larsen, Abigail barnes, Halsie Barnes, Coach Bret Ruggles, Madalyn Stewart, Payten Lambert, Coach Brandi Ruggles.
Wednesday marked Day one of the Raiderette Softball Invitational.
The tournament kicked off with a battle between neighbors Bedford and Lenox.
Lenox came away with the 5-0 win to move on to the winners bracket, while Bedford headed to the consolation bracket.
Wayne and Centerville faced off next. Wayne defeated the Redettes 3-2.
Murray and Martensdale-St. Mary’s came up next which saw Murray rally back from a 6-3 deficit to win 9-7 in the international tie breaker.
Closing out day one would be Mount Ayr and Orient-Macksburg.
Mt.Ayr 10, O-M 0
The Raiderettes set the tone with five runs scored in the bottom of the first, after Orient-Macksburg was downed by Addy Reynolds and company.
Reynolds also got the bats started, hitting a double. Alexa Anderson drove in the first run on a base hit while Rachel Sobotka had a big hit for a single, but two RBI. Payten Lambert recorded an RBI on a nice hit and and an error saw another Raiderette across home plate.
Reynolds sat the Lady Bulldogs down once again, after allowing one hit and no runs and the Raiderette bats were hot, putting up five more runs through two.
After 4 1/2 innings Mount Ayr received the win and advanced to the winners bracket to close out day one.
“What I really liked about our hitting was it was line drives, it was up the middle, the right side, the left side,” said coach Ruggles. “We have struggled with slow pitchers lately.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
OM 0 0 0 0 0 x x 0
MA 5 5 0 0 x x x10
Hitting
AB H R BI
S.Stewart 3 0 0 0
Reynolds 2 1 2 0
McAlexander 2 1 2 1
Anderson 2 2 2 1
A.Barnes 2 1 0 1
R.Sobotka 3 2 2 4
H.Barnes 3 1 1 1
Henle 3 0 0 0
Lambert 2 1 0 1
M.Stewart 0 0 0 0
MakJones 0 0 1 0
TOTALS 22 9 10 9
Pitching
IP H ER RK
Reynolds 5 2 0 0 7
TOTALS 5 2 0 0 7
Day two of the tournament started three days later on Saturday morning.
The Bedford Lady Bulldogs and the Centerville Redettes met at 8:30 Saturday morning The Redettes won by a score of 9-0.
Martensdale-St. Mary’s would then face Orient-Macksburg for the next contest of the day.
The Lady Blue Devils won 12-0 over O-M.
The Lady Bulldogs of Orient-Macksburg then faced the Bedford Lady Bulldogs and took their first win of the tournament by a score of 15-6.
Centerville and Martensdale-St. Mary’s closed out the consolation bracket with a close game. Centerville would go on to win 4-0.
Lenox and Wayne kicked off the winners bracket with another closely contested shootout, with Lenox winning 3-2 after seven innings.
Raiderette Channler Henle gives a big smile and two thumbs up after hitting her first career homerun against Kayla Wookey of Murray during the Raiderette Softball Invitational. Henle had two runs on two hits and her own RBI.
Mt Ayr 6, Murray 3
Mount Ayr and Murray would face off for the first time this year and the last time for longtime head coach Danny Jensen who got his start in 1978 in Mount Ayr as a student teacher.
The teams were back and forth with Caroline McAlexander pitching for the Raiderettes and Kayla Wookey pitching for the Mustangs.
The Raiderettes scored six runs off six hits and struck out eight times against Wookey.
Coach Bret Ruggles said early in the season, the third time the girls see a pitcher is when their bats get hot, which was the case against Murray.
In the bottom of the third, Mount Ayr scored four runs. The girls would score two more in the bottom of the fourth to sit at six.
Murray looked to mount a comeback late in the game with one in the sixth and two runs in the seventh to come to a final score of 6-3 with the Raiderettes moving on to the championship game against Lenox.
Stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
MUR 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3
MA 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 6
Hitting
AB H R BI
S.Stewart 3 1 1 1
Reynolds 3 1 1 1
McAlexander 3 0 0 1
Anderson 3 0 0 0
A.Barnes 3 1 0 0
R.Sobotka 3 1 0 0
H.Barnes 3 0 0 0
Lambert 2 1 1 0
Henle 2 2 2 1
M.Stewart 0 0 0 0
MakJones 0 0 1 0
E.Sobotka 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 25 7 6 4
Pitching
IP H ER RK
McAlexander 7 9 3 3 1
TOTALS 7 9 3 3 1
Mount Ayr coach Brandi Ruggles (left) presents Murray coach Danny Jensen (right) with a Mount Ayr Raiderette softball t-shirt, a plaque and golf balls for his retirement at the end of the season. Jensen actually got his start in Mount Ayr as a student teacher in 1978 and has been a staple in Murray softball for a long time.
Murray would turn around and face Wayne in the third place game.
In a close game, Wayne defeated the Murray Mustangs 4-3.
After the teams shook hands, coaches Bret and Brandi Ruggles took to the mound and greeted Murray coach Danny Jensen. Thanking him for what he has done for the game of softball and congratulating him on a long career, the coaches presented him with a Raiderette shirt, a plaque and a box of golf balls to be used in retirement.
Mt. Ayr 11, Lenox 10
Next up was the championship game, which went down to the time limit.
The Raiderettes scored a run early, in the bottom of the first before taking a 5-0 lead after two innings.
Lenox capitalized on Mount Ayr errors to tie the game at five runs each.
Mount Ayr was able to get ahead once again with one run in the bottom of the third.
Addy Reynolds, pitching for Mount Ayr, kept the Lady Tigers at bay and the Raiderettes put up two more runs to lead 8-5 through four innings.
Lenox would put five more runs on the board due to errors on the Mount Ayr side of the ball.
Lenox now led 10-8 with the time limit looming.
Before the bottom of the 5th was started, umpire Jerry Shields let Ruggles know the time limit had been reached and this would be the last inning.
The Raiderettes got off to a good start, with Channler Henle beating a throw to first for a base hit.
Payten Lambert singled, to advance Henle before a ground out by Sam Stewart for the first out, yet putting two runners in scoring position for a chance to tie the game.
A bad pass brought Henle across home, however, she was tagged before making contact with home plate. The Raiderettes stared down two-out rally.
Lambert, in the commotion at home advanced to third.
Addy Reynolds was walked, followed by McAlexander and the bases were loaded.Alexa Anderson had a nice hit that brought in two runs to tie the game at 10.
The girls were now looking at an international tie-breaker with Abigail Barnes at the plate.
Barnes had struggled at the plate this season, but tonight with the game resting on her shoulders she made contact with the ball to win the game and bring the tournament trophy home for the Raiderettes.
Mount Ayr defeated Lenox 11-10 in the bottom of the 5th to close out the 2019 Raiderette Softball Invitational.
“In championships games with all the heat and different things going on you get put in weird positions and there’s a lot of pressure,” said coach Ruggles. “It was good for our girls to put pressure on our bats. We have never had that 8-6 we have got to go get some runs. Fantastic job by Channler Henle and Payten Lambert, Lambert deserves an all-tournament team. Rachel Sobotka did a good job, we haven’t asked her to [catch] for a long time.”
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
LEN 0 0 5 0 5 x x10
MA 1 4 1 2 3 x x11
Hitting
AB H R BI
S.Stewart 4 0 0 0
Reynolds 1 0 3 0
McAlexander 2 1 1 0
Anderson 2 2 0 2
A.Barnes 4 2 0 1
R. Sobotka 2 2 2 0
H.Barnes 3 0 1 0
Henle 3 2 1 1
Lambert 3 2 2 1
MakJones 0 0 0 0
Streit 0 0 1 0
TOTALS 24 11 11 5
Pitching
IP H ER RK
Reynolds 4 4 3 8 1
McAlexander 1 0 0 2 2
TOTALS 5 4 3 103
