Chaffee softball team reaches district final

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Naylor gave up too much early and had too little offense late.

Chaffee used a big inning early and held off a few attempted rallies by Naylor to win the semifinals of the Class 1 District 1 Tournament 9-4 on Wednesday at Rains Field.

The Eagles committed back-to-back errors to start the second inning and weren't able to escape the damage.

"We've got to do a better job of being consistent, and that was probably a weakness of this team all year long," Naylor coach Gene Deckard said. "Hopefully this won't sit well with the girls and they have a lot of pride."

With runners on the corners, Chaffee got on the board with a bunt single.

Chaffee added three more runs in the fifth following on infield error by Naylor and took an 8-2 lead.

Naylor scored a pair of runs in the third inning after stringing together three singles. Kabrien Rogers drove in Chelsey Rigdon, and Callee Pickrell poked an RBI groundout toward second base.

The Eagles had runners on the corners with one out in the fifth, but a pair of hard hit balls went right at outfielders to end the inning.

In the sixth, Lawren Davis reached on an error, then scored after another error. Naylor had runners on second and third with one out, but a strikeout and a groundout ended the inning with the Eagles still down six runs.

Naylor loaded the bases in the seventh with two outs but only got one run out of the inning after a groundout to shortstop.

"The inning we gave up four runs, and basically they got one hit. That was the big thing, and like I said, we left a couple runners on third with one out and didn't push the runner across. If we push the runners across there, we are within one swing or one out of being right back in there," Deckard said. "Again, that gets back to being young and pushing the run across the plate when you've got a chance."

Carleigh Burnett got the win for Chaffee on the mound. She struck out four, gave up 10 hits and one walk against.

Gracie Gargac struck out five and had one walk in the loss. She also allowed 10 hits.

Naylor had four errors to Chaffee's three, but the Lady Eagles stranded 10 runners and several of them on third base.

Of Chaffee's six stranded runners, only three were in scoring position and none were on third base.

Eight girls got hits for Chaffee. Syndey Walker, Carlie Milz and Hannah Seyer each had two hits. Seyer also finished with three RBIs. Taylor Crites had two RBIs, as did Madeline Hendrix.

Chaffee 040 131 0 -- 9 10 3

Naylor 002 001 1 -- 4 10 4

WP -- Carleigh Burnett. LP -- Gracie Gargac. 2B -- Hannah Seyer (C), Sydney Walker (C). Multiple hits -- Chaffee: Carlie Milz 2-3, Hannah Seyer 2-4, Sydney Walker 2-4; Naylor: Hannah Cunningham 2-3, Chelsey Rigdon 2-3, Kabrien Rogers 3-4.