Eagles return to Final Four
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
After missing the State tournament last season, Platte Valley head coach Shelly Deen and daughter Josie Deen embrace after Josie records the final out on a pop fly. The Eagles will play in the State semifinal game on Friday morning.
Platte Valley’s softball team downed the reigning State champion, the Norborne Pirates, 7-1 on Saturday to advance to the State semifinal. Although Norborne hosted the round-of-eight game, the Eagles won a pre-game coin flip to earn the privilege of being the designated home team.
After allowing a monstrous home run to Norborne’s leadoff batter Katie Wood in the first plate appearance of the game, Platte Valley’s Sarah Chor pitched brilliantly, allowing just two clean base hits the remainder of the game. Chor walked four batters, but compensated with seven strikeouts. Norborne’s pitching duo of Jenna Korff and Emma Theoni allowed seven Eagle hits, sitting just one Platte Valley batter down on strikes. Korff was pulled in the fifth inning after walking four out of five batters.
Platte Valley earned their tying run on Chor’s sacrifice fly in the third inning. The Eagles scored again in the fifth, but the floodgates opened in the five-run sixth inning. Josie Deen was the only Eagle to record multiple hits, and Chor led in runs batted in with three.
For Platte Valley head coach Shelly Deen, Saturday’s victory was nothing different than what she had seen for the past several games. Deen said that her team has a knack for finding ways to stay in competitive ballgames before capitalizing on opponents’ mistakes and exploding for a big inning late in games.
“We had to approach it as though we have the better pitcher, and I did believe in that,” Deen said. “I told them not to worry about it. They’re so disciplined out here, and they understand the game, so we were okay. We got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning, these girls believe in each other. That’s where we’ve come so far.
“We’re going to enjoy it, but we’re still going to practice on the little things.”
Platte Valley junior outfielder Elizabeth Turpin agreed with Deen, saying that she was excited that her team was still progressing together at such a late point in the season.
“We’ve got to make sure we keep doing what we’re doing,” Turpin said. “We’ve got to work on our defense. Our defense is winning us games. We trust each other, we know what we need to do, we talk to each other, and we make sure we get it done. We’ve gotten disciplined enough to take walks, obviously that led to runs.”
Norborne head coach Kendra Wood applauded Platte Valley, and complimented the resilience of the Eagles after the game.
“We had a lot of info on them, and they played pretty true to it,” Wood said. “They seem like a team that’s going to fight to the end regardless if they start out on top or if they start out on bottom. They’re a solid team. It’s always easier to fight when you’re on top than when you’re on bottom, and that’s what we didn’t do.”
The Eagles will play Clopton on Friday morning at 10 a.m. at Killian Sports Complex in Springfield. No matter the outcome, Platte Valley is guaranteed two games. The consolation game will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, and the championship at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Elizabeth Turpin grounds out, advancing a runner in the second inning of Saturday’s victory over Norborne. Turpin, a South Nodaway student, says that her team has all of the pieces to gather a State title only Jefferson students got to enjoy two seasons ago.
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Third baseman Josie Deen fields a bunt and has the awareness to track down the lead baserunner while shortstop Kelsi McQuinn covers her bag. The Eagles won 7-1 to advance to the State semifinal.
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Second baseman Kaylin LaMaster prepares to tag out Norborne’s Emma Theoni. LaMaster reached base successfully in each of her plate appearances in Saturday’s victory.
