Monett Rallies Past Sullivan In Quarterfinal
On another field — perhaps anywhere else in the state of Missouri — Saturday’s Class 3 quarterfinal at Monett may have turned out differently.
With one out in the fifth, Reagan Thomure on first and Sullivan trailing 3-2, Hannah Cox hit a fly ball deep to left. Had the game been played 200 miles to the east, it would have cleared the fence and put Sullivan back on top.
Instead, it was just another fly ball that died in the vast outfield of Monett’s North Park.
Unable to clear the fences or find a hole past the fielders, Sullivan was unable to power up Saturday and a three-run fifth inning sent the Cubs past the Lady Eagles 5-2 and onward to the Final Four, denying Sullivan a trip for the second straight year.
Sullivan (27-3) had won 21 straight games entering the quarterfinal and hadn’t trailed in 119 innings — going back to the fourth inning against Cor Jesu on Aug. 26.
Monett had to deploy every tool they had to generate the win. They dropped down bunts, took extra bases, played airtight defense, passed on every opportunity to pitch to Addison Purvis and took advantage of some costly errors by the Sullivan defense.
North Park played to Monett’s strengths, with starter Josie Allcock allowing 12 flyouts to just four groundouts. Allcock didn’t miss many bats. She struck out just three, but she let her defense work for her and kept Sullivan from putting up a crooked number in the third.
Kloey Blanton hit a one-out single and Allcock walked Purvis on four pitches, opting to deal with Cox instead. Cox ripped the first pitch to left, scoring Blanton and moving Thomure — Purvis’ courtesy runner — to third. Hanna Johanning followed by grounding Allcock’s first pitch through the hole and into right, scoring Thomure for a 2-0 lead. Sullivan was unable to tack on another run.
That kept the game where Monett needed it. In the fifth, Kaesha George reached on an error and advanced to second. Katie Kurima laid down a bunt and took second base with no Sullivan player covering the bag. Purvis struck out Maddi Coones after a 10-pitch at-bat, but Kelli McCallister punched a two-run single to right, tying the game at 2-2. Purvis got Allcock to pop out and had Kassie McCallister down 1-2, but she went opposite field to right, scoring Kelli and putting Monett up 3-2.
Sullivan missed an opportunity to climb back on top in the bottom half of the inning. Allcock again passed on Purvis, bringing out Thomure as a runner and choosing to again deal with Cox. Cox again ripped the first pitch she saw, but it fell harmlessly into the glove of Ashely Kurima for the second out. Johanning again singled to right, but she was cut down trying to take second, ending the inning.
Monett added another run with two outs in the sixth. George started the rally again when she reached on a bunt. After stealing second, she scored on Katie Kurima’s single to right.
Sullivan’s defense enabled another run in the seventh, when Kelli McCallister reached on an error and Allcock pulled into first on a bloop that was hit between the pitcher’s circle and second base. The runners moved up on a wild pitch. Ashely Kurima dropped down a bunt that Weirich fielded for the out at first. Kelli McCallister broke for home and scored.