Ozark Softball Gets 11th Win Of Season
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by Bronson Ruston
The Ozark Lady Hillbilly softball team earned three wins last week to improve 11-4 overall and 5-1 in conference play.
Mena
Brylee Riddell carved through Mena’s lineup, piling up 16 strikeouts in a two-hit complete-game shutout as the Hillbillies beat Mena 8-0 on Tuesday, April 7.
Riddell helped her cause, ripping a double into the gap to score Harley Collums and Aubrey Durning to take a 2-0 lead in the first.
Ozark extended its early lead with two runs in the second thanks to RBI singles by Collums and Durning, scoring Chloe Garner and Collums.
Ivy Brasseaux stole home in the third. Making it 5-0.
Riddell’s sacrifice fly in the fourth brought home Collums for a 6-0 lead.
A Mena error in the fifth allowed Chloe Garner to score, and Holly Sampley’s RBI double in the sixth drove in Cassey Cook, making the final score 8-0.
Collums led the offense with three hits, followed by Riddell with three RBIs on two hits. Garner and Durning each added two hits.
Greenland
Ozark shook off an early deficit and turned Thursday’s matchup into a runaway, scoring 12 unanswered runs after the first inning to defeat Greenland 12–2 in six innings.
The Lady Hillbillies trailed 2-0 before recording an out, but their offense and bullpen took over from there.
Ozark answered immediately in the bottom of the first. Durning doubled to score Collums, then came home on an error to even the game at 2-2.
The Lady Hillbillies moved ahead in the second when Collums lifted a sacrifice fly to left, allowing Lillie O’Daniel to tag and score for a 3–2 lead. Garner added an RBI single in the third, driving in Cook to make it 4–2.
The game broke open in the fifth, when Ozark sent 10 batters to the plate and piled up seven runs. Garner’s sacrifice bunt scored Hope Lord, and Mattie Russell delivered the biggest swing of the night — a two-run pinch-hit home run to left.
Durning singled home Shyla Humphrey, Collums scored on a passed ball, and Durning crossed on a throwing error. Riddell capped the outburst with a towering solo homer to left for an 11-2 cushion.
Ozark ended the game in the sixth when Humphrey lined a walk-off triple to right field, bringing Jaydelynn Brown home, sealing the 12-2 run-rule victory.
Cook started and worked one inning, allowing two earned runs on three hits with two strikeouts and two walks. Sampley was sharp in relief, throwing five scoreless innings, scattering four hits and striking out five.
Riddell led Ozark’s offensive attack with three hits. Collums, Durning and Russell each added two. Garner, Russell and Durning drove in two runs each.
Waldron
By the time Aubrey Durning walked off the mound Friday evening, there wasn’t much left to say. The Ozark pitcher overpowered Waldron from first pitch to finish, tossing a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts as the Lady Hillbillies rolled to a 10-0 victory.
Ozark set the tone immediately, stacking four runs on the board in the opening inning. Cook forced in the first run with a bases-loaded walk, and Aly Childers followed with a sharp single that brought home Riddell and Tiffany Monson. Moments later, Garner’s fielder’s-choice grounder allowed Cook to score, giving Durning a comfortable cushion before she even entered to the circle.
The Lady Hillbillies kept pressing in the second. Durning helped her own cause with an RBI single that scored Brown, Riddell doubled to drive in Durning, and Cook added her second RBI of the night with a single that pushed Riddell across for a 7-0 lead.
Ozark tacked on another run in the third when Collums singled to score Garner, and the advantage grew to double digits in the fourth. Childers came home on a Waldron error, and Humphrey crossed the plate on a passed ball to make it 10-0.
From there, Durning handled the rest. She rarely found herself in trouble, allowing only a pair of scattered hits and walks as Waldron struggled to square anything up.
Read this story and others in the April 15 issue of The Graphic, available online and at businesses throughout Franklin and Johnson counties. Subscribe or donate here to support more hometown journalism.
Brylee Riddell
Mattie Russell
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