Softball defeats Advance

For the second time this year, the Oran High School softball team defeated the visiting Lady Hornets from Advance.  Yesterday, the Lady Eagles won 7-3.  Earlier, in a game played in March,  Oran picked up a 14-4 road victory.

In yesterday's home contest.  Oran never trailed.

The hosts' scored two in the first.

Sydney Kern opened up with a walk, she stole second and scampered home on Kaylee Payne's triple.  Payne would score on Samantha Welter's two-out single.

In the second inning, three more Eagles would cross.

Maddie Graviett led off with a single.  She scored on Abbey Madigan's double.  Starting pitcher Alyssa Spane bunted her to third.  Kern drove Madigan home with a single.  With two outs Claire Ramsey hit a double to right to score Kern,  Ramsey was out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Oran tacked on another run in the third.  Jessie Long drilled an 0-2 pitch over the left field fence.

Coach Jim Eftink said of the blast, "Jessie made a statement early when she hit her bomb.  You knew that one was gone when it left the bat."

Meanwhile, in the circle, Spane had allowed only one base runner.  That runner reached on an error.

But in the fourth, Advance used a lead-off walk, back to back singles, a groundout and another single to plate two.

Welter took over in the fifth.  She allowed an unearned run on two singles and an error to make the score 6-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

The Eagles wasted little time getting that run back.  Claire Ramsey hammered the ball out of the park toward left field to make it 7-3.

Eftink said, "Claire got her first homer later in the game and it was also a pretty good shot.  A line drive shot that just kept going. We needed that too, it put us up by four runs."

Advance stranded one in the seventh.

The coach said, " It was a nice bounce-back win for us. The ladies came out ready to play."

"We’ve still got to tighten up some things on defense but with the weather affecting our schedule, it’s hard to stay sharp. Hopefully, we can take care of those things now that we’re seeing warmer weather,"  he added.

Spane improved to 2-0, going four innings.  She allowed two runs, both earned on three hits.  She walked one and struck out four.  Welter went the final three.  She allowed one unearned run on three hits.  She walked one and struck out one.

 Ramsey was the only Eagle with more than one hit, she was two for three with a pair of runs driven in.

Oran improved to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in district competition.

The Lady Eagles travel to New Madrid County Central on Tuesday.  First pitch is 4:30 pm.