Kelly turned the championship game of Class 2 District 1 softball tournament into a one-inning competition Friday and won.
The Hawks answered St. Vincent's two runs in the top of the fourth with three runs in the bottom of the inning to win 3-2 in Scott City.
Kristy Brucker picked up the win for the Hawks after extinguishing a potentially bigger inning for the Indians with a pair of strikeouts. She then added an RBI single in the bottom of the inning.
"They just battled back that fourth inning and held onto the lead," Kelly coach Rhonda Ratledge said. "And Kristy did an excellent job then finishing up the game for us."
Kayla Winkler reached on an error to open the St. Vincent fourth and stole second. She scored on a single to center by Abby Ruessler, who took second on the throw home. Ruessler advanced to third on a bunt and scored on a double by Jacqueline Richardet. Brucker replaced starting pitcher Alexis Dock and struck out the next two batters.
Kelly (20-4) went to work in the bottom of the inning.
Stephanie Worth led off with a single, and Jessica Worth reached on an error. Jade Rampley moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt. Brucker followed with a single to right field to score Stephanie Worth. Jessica Worth also scored on a throwing error on the play. Brucker, who advanced to second on the play, scored what proved to be the winning run on a two-out fielding error.
St. Vincent (11-14) collected two of its three hits off Brucker in the fifth inning but left the runners stranded with a two-out strikeout. Brucker finished with three strikeouts and did not walk a batter over 3 2/3 innings.
"They came at the right time and place," Ratledge said of Brucker's strikeouts.
Dock allowed two hits over the first 3 1/3 innings. She walked one and struck out two.
Both teams had five hits, but St. Vincent committed four errors while Kelly made two.
"We had really good defense, and the girls did not give up," Ratledge said.
Morgan LeDure had two hits for Kelly, while Richardet had two for St. Vincent.
Kelly will face Twin Rivers in the sectional round at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo.
Kelly 3, St. Vincent 2
St. Vincent 000 200 0 -- 2 5 4
Kelly 000 300 x -- 3 5 2
WP -- Kristy Brucker, 10-3. LP -- Casey Unterreiner. 2B -- Richardet (SV). Multiple hits -- St. Vincent: Richardet 2-2; Kelly, Morgan LeDure 2-3. Records -- Kelly 20-4.
Chelsea Seyer had eight assists and Emma Hemmann had eight kills to help the Blue Jays to a victory. Janelle Myers also had six kills while McKenzie Elam added five kills in the road victory.
Eagle Ridge's Hannah Hess had two kills and two digs and Hannah Petzoldt had three kills in the road victory. Callie Hefner and Emily Jackson each finished with two kills to help the Eagles improve to 16-4.
Notre Dame's Miranda Fowler had 11 kills and four blocks to help the Bulldogs (21-1-1) to the road victory. Myriah Bernard had nine kills and Kelsey Luster had four kills. Taylor Feeney added with four kills and Taylor Ward had 25 assists.
Aimie Simmer recorded 12 kills and Allie Below had 19 assists to help the Hornets sweep Bell City on the road. Liza Gray and Hannah Clark added six kills, Grayson Miles had four kills and Haley Kennison had three kills to go along with 10 assists.
The Red Devils were tripped up by Malden on the road and fell to 2-5 this season.
Perryville was shut out at home to drop to 2-5 on the season.
The Indians improved to 4-3 with a win on the road.
Oak Ridge senior Ethan Seyer finished in first place with a time of 17 minutes, 33 seconds in the Chaffee/Saxony Lutheran meet at Jackson Park on Thursday.
Corvin Schoen claimed fourth place with a time of 18:30 as Oak Ridge finished second in the boys team standings.
Advance senior Braden Bien finished sixth with a time of 18:32, and Woodland's Garrett Reynolds finished ninth at 18:35.
Oak Ridge junior Alexis Wunderlich claimed fifth place in the girls race with a time of 22:35.
BOYS
TEAM STANDINGS -- 1. Valle Catholic 62; 2. Oak Ridge 69; 3. St. Vincent 94; 4. Arcadia Valley 97; 5. Woodland 104; 6. Valley Park 113; 7. Advance 161; 8. Southern 200
INDIVIDUAL TOP TEN
1. Ethan Seyer, Oak Ridge, 17:33
2. Nicholas Klein, Valle Catholic, 17:55
3. Alad Adams, Valley Park, 18:18
4. Corvin Schoen, Oak Ridge, 18:30
5. Matthew Bauman, Valle Catholic, 18:31
6. Braden Bien, Advance, 18:32
7. Calvin Colvis, Valle Catholic, 18:33
8. Usama Ahmad, Valley Park, 18:34
9. Garrett Reynolds, Woodland, 18:35
10. Jimmy Stricklan, Arcadia Valley, 18:38
LOCAL TOP FIVE
Advance -- 6. Braden Bien 18:32; 19. Curtis Gilliand 19:06; 58. Ben Trout 23:05; 63. Zachary Cato 24:10
Delta -- 40. Dwight Nance 20:56; 48. Jesse Nance 21:33
Kelly -- 30. Jerrod Lynn 19:51; 42. Alan Lowe 21:05; 43. Trey Walker 21:08; 54. Jacob McClain 22:13
Oak Ridge -- 1. Ethan Seyer 17:33; 4. Corvin Schoen 18:30; 13. Jake LeGrand 18:46; 26. Nathan Bolin 19:35 27. Zackry Moore 19:36
Meadow Heights -- 14. Chris Bollinger 18:50; 35. Ryan Foltz 20:16; 36. Steven Bright 20:18
Saxony Lutheran -- 29. Aaron Koehler 19:47; 51. Zachary Vogel 21:38; 53. Taylor Richmond 21:47
Woodland -- 9. Garrett Reynolds 18:35; 12. Aaron Yount 18:43; 24. Kyle Davis 19:29; 25. Dakota Long 19:34; 45. Dakota Kirkpatrick 21:20
St. Vincent -- 11. Jon Meinhardt 18:39; 18: Levi Krauss 19:01; 20. John Lipe 19:08; 21. Isaac Baer 19:12; 28. Alex Lipe 19:37
GIRLS
TEAM STANDINGS -- 1. Arcadia Valley 41; 2. Valle Catholic 58; 3. Valley Park 68; 4. Saxony Lutheran 76, 5. Crystal City 104
INDIVIDUAL TOP TEN
1. Saga Barzowski, Arcadia Valley, 20:11
2. Anna Thomas, Arcadia Valley, 20:59
3. Hanna Teer, Valley Park, 21:47
4. Neve Cavanaugh, Valle Catholic, 22:20
5. Lexi Wunderlich, Oak Ridge, 22:31
6. Virginia Rice, Crystal City, 22:36
7. Katie Justice, Dexter, 22:48
8. Ana Barzowski, Arcadia Valley, 23:16
9. Meaghan Fowler, Valley Park, 23:20
10. Rebecca Abt, Valle Catholic, 23:27
LOCAL TOP FIVE
Oak Ridge -- 5. Alexis Wunderlich 22:31; 14. Kendra Kohler 23:57; 39. Chelsea Seyer
Saxony Lutheran -- 12. Rachael Gruenwald 23:41; 13. Breanne Etzold 23:51; 16. Regan Obermann 24:01; 27. Dakota Werner 24:56; 34. Kristen Gruenwald 25:12
Woodland -- 31. Bailey Jones 25:00; 40. Valerie Lewis 26:44; 42. Cassidy Sawyer 26:59
Delta -- 15. Jamie Hodge 23:58; 36. Katie Nance 25:34
Chaffee -- 20. Holly Rutherford 24:17; 41. Lyndsey Statler 26:49; 44. Courtney Berghoff 27:20
Zalma -- 33. Jenny Ware 25:10
-- From staff reports
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