Irish Softball Takes Title at Forsyth Invitational

by Rick Kindhart

The Springfield Catholic softball squad earned first place at the Forsyth Invitational on Saturday (April 11), sweeping all three games of the round-robin event to capture the tournament title for the second time in three years.

The Irish defeated host Forsyth, 11-2, to open the day, then knocked off Cotter High School of Arkansas, 10-0, and finished things off with a 6-5 victory over Reeds Spring.

"Playing three games in one day is challenging, but they continued to fight through it," said head coach Madison Orr. "We had great perseverance toward a common goal, and our bats were hot which was fun to watch."

In the Forsyth game, Jalyn Smith hit two home runs and drove in five to pace the victory. Gillian Braun also homered for Catholic. The Irish scored in every inning and got a complete-game pitching effort from senior Jocee Luce who gave up just two hits, allowed no walks and surrendered just one earned run.

Game two against Cotter looked to be an even matchup on paper with the Warriors coming into the tournament with a 9-2 overall record. However, SCHS freshman pitcher Sophia Ballmann did her part to make sure that wasn't the case as she tossed a no-hitter, facing just one over the minimum, and striking out five in a run-rule victory. Luce, Taryn Stuhlsatz and Hadleigh McCue each drove in two runs with Stuhlsatz going 3-for-3 at the plate as part of a 10-hit attack.

The finale against Reeds Spring proved to be the most thrilling contest of the day as Coach Orr's club literally saved its best for last to overcome a 5-1 deficit in the final inning. A two-run home run by Brianna Scott jump-started the Irish offense in the final frame before a walk to McCue and back-to-back doubles from Annabel Meinhardt and Luce pushed another run across. With two runners in scoring position and no outs, a head's up play by Braun allowed the tying and winning runs to score after she drew an errant throw to first after a dropped third strike.

Catholic out-hit Reeds Spring by an 11-4 margin with Scott earning the victory in the circle. The sophomore hurler gave up just three earned runs and two walks in a complete game. Meinhardt was 3-for-3 at the plate with Luce, Scott and Stuhlsatz adding two hits apiece.

The championship victory extended Springfield Catholic's win streak to six in a row with eight wins in the team's last nine outings and 10.1 hits per game in that span.