BENTON -- Grace Bryant and the Benton Harmony Grove Lady Cardinals left Rose Bud stranded Saturday afternoon.
Rachel Kesterson and Kylie Moore drove in runs in the ninth inning and Bryant worked around seven hits and eight walks as the Lady Cardinals upset the Lady Ramblers 4-2 in the Class 3A state championship game at the Benton Sports Complex.
Rose Bud (31-2) left 16 runners on base and had a 27-game winning streak snapped. Harmony Grove (26-5) claimed its fifth state softball title and its first since 2013.
Senior Baylee Rowton homered and hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the Lady Cardinals' first two runs.
"I'm just so stinking proud of those kids, of how hard they fought throughout the entire game," Harmony Grove Coach Sammi Massey said. "It would have been easy at times to give up, but they just kept fighting. We made plays when we had to."
Rose Bud entered the game having outscored its opponents 356-22. The Lady Ramblers had posted 23 shutouts and blanked their previous 10 opponents. Rose Bud defeated Harmony Grove twice earlier in the season, winning 7-2 on April 28 and 10-0 on May 5.
Saturday's game took 3 hours and 10 minutes to play. Rose Bud Coach Scotty Starkey said the last thing the Lady Ramblers wanted was a marathon.
"You can't leave 16 runners on base and expect to beat a good team like Harmony Grove," Starkey said. "We haven't been in that spot all year. I told someone we haven't batted in the bottom of the seventh inning all year. We got put in a spot we weren't used to."
Bryant retired Rose Bud in order only once in the nine-inning game. The Lady Ramblers left at least two runners on base six times. Rose Bud was 0 for 16 with runners in scoring position.
"I just had to keep reminding myself that we were here for a reason," said Bryant, who struck out eight batters. "We've battled this entire year. We weren't even expected to play a close game with them ... and that gave me even more motivation."
Rose Bud leadoff batter Joley Mitchell came into the game with a .659 batting average, 24 home runs and 71 RBI. Harmony Grove walked her four times, the last three intentionally.
"I don't blame them," Starkey said. "I would have done that, too."
"[Mitchell] wasn't going to beat me," Massey said. "That was my goal today. Everyone thought I was crazy, but she wasn't going to beat me. Someone else was going to have to beat me."
Rowton, the second batter of the game, homered over the left-field wall for the game's first run.
Rose Bud managed to tie the game in the third. Mitchell led off the inning with a single and stole second. Senior Jenna Hipp sacrificed Mitchell to third, and sophomore Hope Hartle drove in the run with a deep fly to left field.
There was no more scoring until the eighth inning. Rowton's sacrifice fly brought in sophomore Mackenzie Morrow for a short-lived 2-1 Harmony Grove lead. Rose Bud responded in the bottom of the eighth with senior Lauryn Swaffar scoring on a groundout by freshman Kyann Hays.
Kesterson, a senior, gave Harmony Grove a 3-2 advantage with a sacrifice fly and Moore, a junior, made it 4-2 with a single.
Rose Bud loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Bryant got Swaffer to pop out to shortstop Leighton Withers and Gena Cartwright to ground out to Moore at second base.
Sports on 05/20/2018