GREENVILLE -- After taking the lead in the first inning Tuesday, April 11, the Puxico softball team didn't want another Scott County Central situation to unfold.
Less than three weeks ago, the Lady Indians were up on the Bravettes in their own tournament but ended up losing.
That recent collapse weighed heavy on their mind against Greenville while the Lady Bears mounted a late comeback and loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning. But this time, Puxico stood strong with the help of a stellar outing from Kaytlynn Haynes for a 6-5 win.
"We've done this twice now where we jump on a pitcher early and then we just fall off," Puxico coach Will Davis said. "The history behind it wasn't in our favor whatsoever, but I was just glad we were in it. Several times today we proved we could get out of an inning like that and we did it again in the biggest spot."
While the Lady Bears made things interesting late, they had to do most of their heavy lifting when faced with a three-run deficit and down to their final three outs.
Lana Davis started the seventh with a pinch-hit double and scored two batters later on Jaden Francis' RBI double to make it 6-4. Francis tagged up and advanced to third on Siera Bennett's fly ball to center field before scoring on an RBI hit off the bat of Lawren Luke to cut the deficit to one.
Tristin Porter and Mckenzie Miller followed with consecutive singles before Haynes induced a groundball to snuff out Greenville's rally.
"I think it was just a little too late and we didn't make any adjustments," Greenville coach Olivia O'Dell said. "We had several that just kept doing the exact same thing in every at-bat with the same outcome and they've got to learn to do what you gotta do to get on base."
Puxico stormed ahead quickly, taking advantage of a multitude of Greenville errors in the top of the first inning.
Bailey Burns, who was 3 for 3 with three singles, opened the game with her first, stole second and third, and came around to score when Kaiti Payne's high fly ball fell in and out of the glove of Greenville centerfielder. Katelyn Pierre also reached on an error one at-bat later and came around to score on Vikki Burch's two-run double off Greenville starter Emilie O'Dell.
Burch traded places with Gabby Baker, who split the gap in right-center field with an RBI double while Kylie Moore drove Baker in with a single up the middle.
In all, Puxico sent 13 batters to the plate in the first and pounded out six hits to jump ahead.
"They were looking for the first thing out over the plate and she was leaving it out over the plate," Davis said. "We took advantage of it and I'm glad we needed every bit of that cushion."
Puxico starter Kaytlynn Haynes, just a month removed from a broken arm she sustained in the first week of preseason practice, was rolling in just her third start of the season.
The junior set down the first nine she faced in order and had a perfect game going until O'Dell reached on an error to lead off the fourth.
Francis followed with the Lady Bears' first hit of the game, a single through the left side, and Bennett singled to load the bases.
Porter put Greenville on the board when she reached on an error and Beth Bangert added a two-out RBI single to cut Puxico's advantage to 5-2.
With the bases still loaded and a chance to do more damage, the Lady Bears left them stranded. It was a common theme for Greenville, which averaged 10 runs a game prior to its meeting with Puxico.
"We didn't hit. The offense disappeared and I think it went out the window with our errors," O'Dell said. "You can't give any team, especially a good team, five runs. You can't make three errors in one inning and expect to beat anybody."
Zee Luke kept the Lady Bears in it as she walked to start the fifth and later scored on O'Dell's RBI groundout.
Puxico added a much-needed insurance run in the sixth when Burch singled and scored on Baker's sacrifice fly before holding off Greenville's final charge.
"After all that we've gone through this season with losing leads, I was just thinking we were fortunate to be in that situation," Davis said. "We're getting ready to go into the Stoddard County Tournament and you can't create that type of a situation in practice against a good team like Greenville.
"I'm proud of the girls for showing they could manage and come out of a game like that on top."