Oran softball team rips East Prairie to open season

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- The Oran Eagles got a combined no-hit effort from pitchers Tatum May and Anna Jones and plenty of offense to rout East Prairie 14-0 in four innings Thursday.

"We had good pitching and we had speed, which I knew we would," Oran coach Jim Eftink said. "We had some good hits as well."

May, a freshman, and Jones, a sophomore, pitched a nearly flawless game. They faced the minimum 12 batters.

May allowed East Prairie's only two baserunners on a walk in both the first and second innings, but double plays in the following at-bat erased her mistake both times.

Jones took over to start the third and pitched two perfect innings to end the game. The pair combined for five strikeouts.

"The good thing about that is one is a freshman and one is a sophomore," Eftink said about the pitchers.

Oran's offense sparked to life in the top of the first. The Eagles struck for three in the first inning and three more in the second.

The lead ballooned to 14-0 before Jones returned to the pitcher's circle in the fourth and got a strikeout, ground out and a line drive caught by the first baseman to end the game.

"The way I look at it is it's a good thing that's the first game and not the last game of the season," East Prairie coach Steve Stokes said. "You want to improve every game, and I think we will."

Addie Kielhofner and Morgan Todt led Oran's eight-hit effort by both going 2 for 3. Kielhofner had a double while also drawing a walk and driving in a pair of runs. Todt reached in all three plate appearances and scored two runs.

Oran 335 3 -- 14

East Prairie 000 0 -- 0

WP -- Tatum May. LP -- Lauren Magee. 2B -- Addie Kielhofner (O). Multiple hits -- Oran: Kielhofner 2-3, Morgan Todt 2-3. Records: Oran 1-0, East Prairie 0-1.