By MATT PIKE
The West Platte Blue Jays softball team battled and made a late rally, but the Lathrop Lady Mules survived and held on winning 14-12 in Weston, earning their 11th straight victory.
Lathrop started out the game with a bang when senior and Virginia Tech commit Jacie Kassanavoid hit a two run home run in her first at bat of the game. The Blue Jays tied the game in the bottom of the first however, an RBI double from Aubreal Vincent driving in one, with Vincent advancing to third on the throw from the outfield, later scoring herself on a groundout by Vaida Vasques. The game entered the second inning tied 2-2, and in the top of the second the Mules attempted to pull away.
Jade Hadley bunted and reached first on an error, scoring two giving Lathrop the lead back, Hadley advancing all the way to third on the error. She scored one at bat later on an RBI single from Reagan Hall, with another Blue Jays error allowing Hall to move to second base. A sacrifice bunt from Kassanavoid was the first out, moving Hall to third base, and another at bat later Lathrop capped the scoring behind one more West Platte error, Jolene Ashcraft reaching on an error in center field and bringing home Hall to give the Mules a 6-2 lead.
The Blue Jays cut the lead back to one though in the bottom half of the second with three runs. A double from Maddie Cline with two runners on drove in both, but an error by Mules third baseman Maddie Neill allowed Cline to advance to third, and on a slide into third the ball skipped away from Neill into left field allowing Cline to race home and score, cutting the Lathrop lead to 6-5.
The scoring barrage continued in the third though from the Mules, with another four run inning. An RBI single from Hadley brought home one run, one at bat later two more runs scored when Hall reached on an error from Vincent, and a double by Kassanavoid capped the scoring, driving in Hall to extend the Mules lead to 10-5. West Platte was held scoreless in the third, but scored one run in the fourth inning after holding Lathrop scoreless for the first time in the game, an RBI single from Brook Allison driving in one to cut the Lathrop lead to 10-6.
Leading by four, the Mules hit their second home run of the game in the fifth inning, a two run home run by Hadley to make it 12-6. The Blue Jays were held scorless in the fifth, and again held Lathrop scoreless in the sixth inning, cutting into the lead even more in the bottom half with four runs. A bases loaded walk to Ella Davis scored the first run, two more came home on a ground ball where Maizie French reached on an error, and a ground out by Carsyn Shenkner cut the lead to two, heading into the final inning with the Mules holding a 12-10 lead.
Errors continued to plague the Blue Jays in seventh, as Hadley scored a run off a bunt single from Hall. Hadley had stolen second base prior to the bunt and scored on the error by Vasques, with Hall moving to third base, and Hall scored with a sacrifice fly from Kassanavoid to put Lathrop back up by four. With two outs, Vasques reached on an error and Allison singled, both scoring on wild pitches by Hall, but a ground out by Doran ended the game
Lathrop head coach Ashley Hutchcraft says she liked how her team showed up through the entire night and didn't give up.
"West Platte's a good team, I liked how we showed up, had a lot of energy through the night, and got it done," Hutchcraft tells reporters after the game. "Truly there's not a super weak spot in our lineup, everyone can just hit the ball, I'm very grateful for our sticks right now, they're working.
To have no extreme weak spots in your lineup, takes a lot of work, something Kassanavoid, the Mules career home runs leader, says this entire team has done.
"All of us put in extra effort outside of practices, outside of games, so our bats are also equally good, even better, so we knew we were going to get a high scoring game tonight," Kassanavoid explains.
The Mules have not lost since falling to Richmond on August 29th in the Lathrop Round Robin Tournament. Hutchcraft knew her team was capable of putting together an extended winning streak like this.
"But I've seen a mindset shift within the last couple weeks and they really want it, so good to see it all come together and fall into place," Hutchcraft says.
Lathrop will host South Harrison on Monday while West Platte will have two more games today and two on Saturday, participating in the Park Hill South Tournament, facing Fort Osage and Harrisburg today and taking on St. Joseph Central and Park Hill South tomorrow.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.