ARNOLD, Mo. — Ella Zgaynor slammed 16 years of frustration in the district playoffs for the Poplar Bluff softball team Monday.
The senior’s two-out grand slam capped a third inning in which the Mules broke a tie on Emilee Cheek’s RBI hit while Clara Rahlmann kept the rally alive with an infield hit.
Notre Dame chipped away at Poplar Bluff’s five-run lead, but the Mules held on to win 6-5 in the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 championship at Fox High School.
“I was on my toes,” said Zgaynor of the final inning. “I was really getting nervous, but I believe in our team.”
Poplar Bluff (18-12) will host Parkway South (22-8) in the Class 5 quarterfinal at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Bobby Strenfel Field. The winner advances to the state final four in Springfield.
The Mules claimed the program’s fourth district title, first since 2005, and two years after winning just seven games when most of the seniors were starting as sophomores.
“This group has taken their lumps as a young crew, the senior group is a core group that just worked their butt off,” Mules coach Joel McDuffey said.
“…They do an amazing job of putting in the work (and) it paid off for them.”
The Mules beat Notre Dame for a third straight time and of their five home runs on the season, three have been against the Bulldogs.
“Talk about getting up to play a team,” Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. “I tip a cap. They’ve done a tremendous job. A good, competitive, strong bunch.”
Breann Thresher struck out two and allowed two earned runs in six innings for the win. Rahlmann pitched the seventh, allowing only one hit, a two-out home run by Hailey Burnett.
The Bulldogs (20-12) scored three in the fifth to cut Poplar Bluff’s lead to 6-4, but Thresher got a ground out to the second basemen to end the inning with runners in scoring position.
“We just had to come out and withstand any barrage that they gave us and we did that in the fifth,” McDuffey said.
Zgaynor, who hit her second career home run and first of the season, was 5 for 23 since the start of October. One of those hits was a single in Saturday’s 11-7 semifinal win over Oakville.
“She steps up and she needed it, she was definitely due,” McDuffey said.
The bases were loaded for Zgaynor after Rahlmann extended the inning with an infield hit. The junior hit a softer liner past the pitcher and beat the throw to first by a charging second baseman when she slid into the bag, something she said she’s never done before.
“I just went for it,” Rahlmann said. “It was a bad hit. I had to get there.”
Zgaynor got ahead in the count but swung through strike two to face a 3-2 pitch. The senior turned on an inside pitch and sent it over the left-field fence.
“With a 3-2 count I said I got to hit anything close,” Zgaynor said. “I just kind of timed it up and hit the best I could.”
The inning started with the teams tied at 1-all after Notre Dame freshman Jacie Smith hit a solo home run in the top of the third.
Kennedy Zgaynor, Poplar Bluff’s No. 9 hitter, singled up the middle and took second base on a misplayed ball in the outfield. Madelyn Hefner hit a one-out fly ball that fell in front of the right fielder and Cheek followed with an RBI grouder through the right side for a 2-1 lead.
Cheek’s RBI groundout in the first inning broke a scoreless tie after Breann Thresher reached second on a dropped fly ball near the foul line and moved to third on a bunt by Hefner.
“We wanted to really get people moving on the bases and so if we got people on we wanted to play a little small ball, get things moving and get ourselves around the bases,” said McDuffey, who returned to the dugout in the semifinal Saturday after being in COVID-19 quarantine.
Rahlmann led off the second with a hit but after a bunt by Ella Zgaynor was stranded at second.
Notre Dame pulled even in the third on Smith’s homer and had two on with two out before Zgaynor fielded a grounder and stepped on third.
Graviett said the Poplar Bluff third baseman took away a pair of hits that were likely doubles down the line while a hit to the gap was tracked down by the Mules outfield.
“They made plays when they needed to today and they played well enough to win,” Graviett added.
Smith started the rally in the fifth with a double on a fly ball lost in the sun by Cheek in center. Following a four-pitch walk, Thresher’s only of the game, Ashley Carrow hit a one-out RBI double. A pair of errors led to runs and put the tying run at second.
Outside the fifth, the Mules played an error-free game.
“I started off really nervous about today,” senior Lauren Webb said. “Right when I woke up.”
Webb, the right fielder, warned her infielders that Notre Dame might bunt with two outs in the sixth after a single by Marianne Renaud. The Bulldogs did but it was well defended.
“I remember last time we played them they had their nine-hole hitter bunt whenever they had a runner on,” Webb said. “I could just tell they were about to bunt and they did.
To get to the final, the Mules broke a tie game in the sixth to beat Mehlville 3-1 on Tuesday, started to play second-seeded Oakville on Thursday only for the game to be suspended by rain until Saturday.
After falling behind 5-0 in the third, Adrianne Casey hit a go-ahead, two-run single to cap a six-run fourth inning against the Tigers.
Casey drove in three runs while Morgan Courtney hit a bases-clearing, two-out double in the sixth. Cheek, Thresher and Webb each doubled for the Mules, who had 16 hits, walked five times and stranded 10.
Thresher and Rahlmann had three hits each while Hefner, Ella Zgaynor and Kennedy Zgaynor each scored twice. Webb had two hits as did Cheek, who also drew two walks.
Thresher picked up the win, striking out six in six innings. The senior allowed six earned runs on nine hits, four walks and hit a batter.
Notre Dame, which beat Jackson 2-1 Thursday in the semifinal had to wait until Monday to get another shot at Poplar Bluff. The first meeting was an 9-8 11-inning comeback win for the Mules, who won the rematch 6-2 on the road.
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