Brucker, Dock spark Kelly sectional victory

BENTON, Mo. -- Thanks in large part to the bat of junior Kristi Brucker, the Kelly Hawks now stand just one win away from a return trip the Class 2 final four in Springfield.

Batting in the sixth spot, Brucker had three hits while driving in five runs to guide the Lady Hawks to a 6-0 sectional win Wednesday over visiting East Carter County.

"She was just a fighting machine up there at the plate," Kelly coach Rhonda Ratledge said of Brucker. "Usually it's never one girl. You always preach about a team, but my goodness. She was a good, little saver today. Five RBIs, that's a tough one to follow."

Making Brucker's feat more impressive is that all three of her hits came with two outs and runners in scoring position. Her first came with two outs in the bottom of the first inning and plated Jade Rampley to give Kelly a lead it would never relinquish.

The two squads were still locked in a 1-0 battle when Brucker stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fifth. She gave her team a little breathing room with two-run single to make it 3-0.

Alexis Dock aided one final Kelly rally in the sixth inning with an RBI bloop hit to center field before Brucker collected her final hit of the night, driving in two runs in the process.

"I felt more confident than I have been the rest of the season," Brucker said. "I'm not sure why. After the first hit I just felt like I could keep it going."

Besides contributing at the plate, Dock was once again dominant inside the circle for the Hawks. The sophomore went all seven innings, shutting out the Redbirds on four hits and one walk while striking out a postseason high 14 batters.

"I felt a little rough, but I just had to push through," Dock said. "I knew if I'd push threw it'd be okay. [I was throwing] rises mainly and they were going for them. We just kept throwing it."

Dock struck out the side in order twice in the contest, including in the seventh, and shut East Carter down on several scoring opportunities. Probably the biggest of these came in the top of the fifth when a leadoff single by the Redbirds' McKenzie Newman put the tying run on first base.

A sacrifice bunt advanced Newman to second base before a passed ball put her at third base with still only one out. Dock responded by striking out the next two batters swinging to escape the inning unscathed.

"We hadn't seen any kind of pitching like that this year," East Carter coach Teresa Kearbey said. "She has quite a bit of speed on her ball. It's hard to make an adjustment from maybe a 50 [mile-per-hour ball] to a 60.

"They worked hard and some of them made good contact with it, but some of the girls just couldn't make that adjustment."

The only Redbird (10-10) hitters to have any success on Dock were Andrea Kearbey and McKenzie Newman. Both had two hits on the contest, including a double by Kearbey.

Behind Brucker's 3 for 4 performance were Rampley and Morgan LeDure with two hits each. Kelly collected 11 hits and stranded nine runners on base.

"We couldn't adjust to their pitcher as well as I thought we were going to," Ratledge said of East Carter starter Emily Neidenberg. "She kind of threw the same speed as St. Vincent [in the district title game]. I was expecting a little bit better against her coming out of the gate."

Wednesday's matchup represented the fourth time in seven years that the Hawks and Redbirds have met in sectionals. Unfortunately for East Carter, Kelly has one each of those meetings.

"The one year we went to state Kelly didn't win their district and we played St. Pius," Kearbey said, referring to 2011 when the Redbirds finished fourth in state. "They're a tough team.

"I think that we had a good shot and we're just as tough of a team, but somebody has to win and unfortunately it wasn't us."

The Hawks (18-7) advance to the quarterfinals for the seventh time in the last eight years. In all but one of those trips Kelly went on to advance into the final four.

Kelly will host Willow Springs (15-10) Saturday at a time still to be determined.

East Carter 000 000 0 -- 0 4 1

Kelly 100 023 X -- 6 11 0

WP – Alexis Dock. LP – Emily Neidenberg. Leading hitters: East Carter: Andrea Kearbey 2-3, 2B; McKenzie Newman 2-3. Kelly: Kristi Brucker 3-4, 5 RBIs; Morgan LeDure 2-3; Jade Rampley 2-4. Records -- East Carter 10-10, Kelly 18-7.