Fillies fall in regionals

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Sports

May 17, 2017 - 12:00 AM

BURLINGTON — Their bats were silent for much of the first six innings Tuesday, but the Iola Fillies proved once again they weren’t going down without a fight.
Consecutive singles by Sierra Snavely and Kelsey Morrison had trimmed Parsons’ lead to 3-2, with Snavely representing the tying run at second base.
But Parsons’ Lindzi Pellock — who will play collegiately next year at Labette Community College — was able to end the jam.
She induced a ground ball to Iola’s MIa Aronson, who made solid contact but hit it straight at the Viking shortstop, who flipped the ball to second for the final out of the game.
Iola’s 3-2 defeat in the Class 4A-II Substate Softball Semifinal ends the Fillies’ season with a 10-11 mark. (Parsons fell, 6-3, to Burlington in the championship game, sending the Wildcats to the state playoffs next week.
“We came in a little bit nervous,” Iola head coach Chris Weide said. “We had a few jitters. We knew what was riding on the game.”
A few uncharacteristic miscues in the top of the third staked Parsons to a 2-0 lead, without the benefit of a hit. The first two Parsons batters reached base on errors. (Both also scored on the errors.)
A leadoff triple in the top of the fourth by the Vikings’ Breanna Bedore — Aronson came up inches short on a spectacular diving catch attempt — led to the third Viking run.
Conversely, Pellock kept Iola off balance through the first four innings. She retired the first 12 Fillies batters, and didn’t allow a ball to be hit out of the infield until the fourth.
That changed in the bottom of the fifth, when Iola senior Jadyn Sigg worked a full count before blasting a leadoff home run over the center field fence to cut the gap to 3-1.
But Pellock settled down from there, retiring the next six Fillies batters.

IOLA’S seventh-inning rally had fans of both teams at the edge of their seats.
Gardner led off the frame with a single, but consecutive ground balls put a runner at first with two out. Snavely nudged a cue shot past the pitcher’s circle and beat the second basemen’s throw by an eyelash. Morrison ripped a ground ball through the left side for an RBI single, cutting the gap to 3-2.
That led to Aronson’s ground ball, ending the game.
“She’s a great pitcher, but we’d seen her before,” Weide said of Pellock. “We just didn’t hit the ball well today.”

SNAVELY took the loss. She surrendered five hits and one earned run with three striikeouts.
She was aided by some nifty outfield defense. Morrison twice snared line drives to right, while Sigg gunned down a Parson’s baserunner in the top of the second.
“We have great defense, but you have to hit the ball as well,” Weide said.
Iola loses Sigg, Sydney Wade and Riley Murry to graduation.
“That’s what makes it tough,” Weide said. “Losing the game is not a big deal, but when you lose three seniors, it is a big deal.
Riley, Sydney and Jadyn have done a lot for our program,” he continued. “They helped us get to a team that should be contending. We didn’t play like it today, but through the season, and last season, they put us at a different spot than we were before. We’re going to miss those girls for their leadership, their attitude and how they play the game. For those younger girls, those three seniors have set the stage we can build on. If we want to be good, we have to work hard all year.”

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