Lady Trojans fall at the Field of Dreams
Senior Kyah Ferguson squares up in the batter box during the Lady Trojans’ first round regional game against Frontenac. Girard fell to the Lady Raiders 4-1, ending this year’s season. ERIC WILSON/HOMETOWN GIRARD
By Eric Wilson
eric@hometowngirard.com
The Girard Lady Trojan softball team fell to the Frontenac Raiders 4-1 Wednesday at the Field of Dreams in Baxter Springs. The game was the first round of the 4A DII Softball Regional Tournament and ended the team’s season.
Every ball off of a Raider bat seemed to fall into the gaps all game long.
Frontenac came out firing in the first inning, connecting on two RBI doubles that drove in two runs, one off of the left field wall and another off of the right field wall.
In the bottom of the inning, Girard answered with a run of their own. Laney Shireman drove in Calea Augustin with an RBI single to right field, making the score 2-1.
Shaylun Grosstephan pitched the entire game for the Lady Trojans and seemingly settled in after the fifth inning. She pitched five strikeouts through four, but the Raiders finally came back with an answer in the fifth.
Frontenac’s Gwen Smalley hit a one-run home run to left field off of Grosstephan to start the fifth. The trouble for the Trojans didn’t stop there. One more RBI double made the score 4-1 before the inning was complete.
For the next three innings, the Lady Trojans couldn’t seem to drive home a run while nearly every ball found the bottom of the Raiders gloves. However, they would not go away easily.
In the bottom of the seventh, Girard planned to start a rally to overcome a 4-1 deficit. With two runners on and two outs, Lauren Franklin entered the line-up as a pinch hitter. After an aggressive at-bat, Franklin flew out to right field to end the game.
Making contact was not a problem for Girard, as no Trojan batter struck out in the game.
With the loss, Girard’s final record fell to 14-7. With the win, Frontenac advanced to the Regional Championship and won, punching their ticket to the state tournament in Emporia.
This year’s Lady Trojan seniors included Kyah Ferguson, Kelsey Kirby and Ashley McDonald. In a year that was riddled with injuries from start to finish, these ladies provided great leadership and guidance all year long.
The 2017 roster will return a lot of players who gained varsity experience from this season.
The Lady Trojans finished tied for second in the CNC and will look to recapture the league championship and make a deep playoff run next year.