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Lady Eagles Reach State Championship For Second Straight Year

Perhaps the most critical play of Saturday’s Class 3 semifinal between Sullivan and Bowling Green happened just three batters in.

Bowling Green’s Kennedy Grimsley took off for home after Jade Meier bounced a single to center.

She rounded third and was just a few feet away from giving the Bobcats an early lead, but Riley Branson was waiting.

The junior center fielder fielded the ball and fired home to catcher Sophia Weirich.

Weirich snagged the relay and slapped the tag on a sliding Grimsley, who tumbled across the Sullivan Bank Ballpark turf, out by a step.

Two batters later, Hanna Johanning struck out her counterpart Tanner Turner, spinning a scoreless opening frame.

That set the stage for Sullivan to work their magic.

The Lady Eagles — whom head coach Ashley Crump called underdogs a week earlier — battled quarantines and juggled lineups to knock off Bowling Green 4-1 and advance to Friday’s Class 3 title game.

Sullivan will appear in the state championship game for the second straight season, third time in the last five seasons and fourth time in program history.

Saturday’s win capped off an emotional rollercoaster of a week.

An hour before Sullivan was set to depart for Rogersville for Thursday’s quarterfinal, they had learned senior Madyson Stahl was being placed into quarantine.

Crump said it was awful, but the team rallied in her absence. 

Branson, who slid into Stahl’s lineup spot batting second, delivered two hits, drove in an insurance run and scored. 

“She is one of my absolute favorite kids I’ve ever had,” Crump said. “She’s all about the team. She’s constantly talking, constantly trying to help and constantly trying to improve her own game. She’s a fighter.”

Branson was in the middle of everything on Saturday.

She pushed a one-out bunt single in the first, stole second and tagged up on a fly ball hit into foul territory.

With two outs, Sophia Weirich tagged a line drive single to center, easily scoring Branson.

Branson came up in the sixth and padded Sullivan’s lead with a two-out single past a drawn-in defense, which scored Alexis Johnson.

Sullivan — battle-tested and treading on well-worn ground in their third straight Final Four appearance — never looked fazed.

“It’s obviously exciting, but it’s just another day,” said Crump, whose teams have appeared in five Final Fours over the last 10 seasons. “I don’t think there was a bunch of pressure.”

Sullivan rarely faces opponents from the northeastern portion of the state.

Bowling Green, which was making its first Final Four appearance, was mostly unknown.

“We had a little bit of information, but based on that and videos, I don’t feel like we had a good feel for what we would face,” Crump said. 

Hanna Johanning battled through 5.1 innings, striking out seven and walking six. 

But the Bobcats couldn’t make her pay for the walks. They had just two hits.

Jaedin Blankenship relieved Johanning in the sixth and turned away a rally.

Sullivan’s lineup collected eight hits against Turner. 

Fresh off a four-hit game against Logan-Rogersville in the quarterfinals, Kayla Ulrich delivered another key hit.

After a double by Johnson and a bunt single by Grace Halmick, Ulrich hit a towering fly ball to left that bounced off the fence. 

Johnson and Halmick scored to push the lead to 3-0.

The Bobcats would finally get on the board in the sixth when Turner walked and Haylee Chandler floated a single to center. Turner trotted into third and scored on a wild pitch, making it 3-1.

Blankenship induced a groundout from Grace Deters to end the threat.

Blankenship surrendered a two-out double to Meredyth Betts in the seventh, but fanned Jade Meier to send the Lady Eagles back to the state title game.

Sullivan Independent News

Sullivan Independent News
411 Scottsdale
Sullivan, MO 63080

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