The Henryetta Lady Knight varsity slowpitch softball team took 2 of 3 earlier this week to sit at 9-8 on the year.
The two Lady Knight wins came at home Monday with a narrow 13-12 victory over the Tahlequah Lady Tigers and a 16-6 decision over arch rival Morris. (See today’s edition for complete details of Monday’s county battle with Morris.)
The Henryetta diamond squad saw their 2-game win streak end Tuesday with a 15-2 setback to the Dale Lady Pirates, who are ranked second in Class 3A.
The Lady Knights were back action action Thursday at the Firelake Slowpitch Softball Festival in Shawnee and will return home Tuesday against Haskell.
In Monday’s thrilling win over Tahlequah, the visitors opened the scoring with four runs in the top of the first.
The Lady Knights cut the deficit in half, 4-2, with two runs in the last of the first, then, after a scoreless second, Tahlequah made it a 5-2 contest with a run in the top of the third.
The Henryetta ladies plated four runs in the third and fourth innings for a 10-5 advantage, while the visitors made it a 10-6 contest with a run in the top of the fifth.
The Henryetta squad plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth to send the contest to the final inning of regulation with the Lady Knights in front by seven, 13-6.
Tahlequah threatened to overcome the 7-run deficit in the top of the seventh, but was only able to push across six runs in its final at-bat of regulation to award the host Henryetta Lady Knights the thrilling 13-12 decision.
Half of the Lady Knights’ 12 base hits in the win came via the long ball, as Henryetta blasted six home runs in the contest.
Freshman Ailanee Hicks accounted for half of the Lady Knights’ home runs, blasting a solo shot in the first, a 2-run shot in the third, and a 3-run shot in the fourth to finish 3 for 3 at the plate with 6 RBIs. Hicks came to the plate with two on in the sixth and was intentionally walked to load the bases.
The other three roundtrippers for the Lady Knights against Tahlequah came on solo blasts by Shelby Kilhoffer in the first and Winter Beaver and Kassidy Lee in the third. Beaver and Lee connected on their solo home runs as part of a back-to-backto- back home run barrage that began with Hicks’ second roundtripper of the contest.
Kinley Miller (2 for 3, 2 singles) and Haley Lewis (2 for 3, single, double) also recorded multi-hit games for Henryetta with two hits each.
Besides the solo home runs by Kilhoffer, Beaver, and Lee, the only other base hits for the Lady Knights against Tahlequah came on singles by McKayla Greenhaw and Graci Lollis.
In Tuesday’s loss to Dale, the Lady Knights were held to just two runs on six hits in the three-inning contest.
The two Henryetta runs came in the top of the first on RBI singles by Kassidy Lee and Kinley Miller.
The other four Lady Knight base hits came on singles by McKayla Greenhaw and Ailanee Hicks and a double by Shelby Kilhoffer.
Dale tallied all 15 of its runs in the bottom of the first.
— Monday, April 10
Henryetta 13, Tahlequah 12 Tahlequah:4-0-1-0-1-0-6 12 – 12 – 1 Henryetta:2-0-4-4-0-3-x 13 – 12 – 5 WP: Ailanee Hicks LP: Kirk HR: Tahlequah: Bread; Henryetta: Winter Beaver, Ailanee Hicks (3), Shelby Kilhoffer, Kassidy Lee — Tuesday, April 11 Dale 15, Henryetta 2
Henryetta: 2 – 0 – 0 2-6-4 Dale: 15 – 0 – x 15 – 10 – 0 WP: Hill LP: Ailanee Hicks HR: Dale: Lang, Welcher, Snyder