SPRINGFIELD -- East Carter faced its toughest competition of the season in Saturday night's MSHSAA Tournament third-place game, and it showed.
The Redbirds struck out 12 straight times to start the game as Blair Oaks pitcher Makenna Kliethermes was locked in all night.
"We haven't seen that kind of pitching because you just don't see that back (home) with us," East Carter coach Teresa Kearbey said. "So, it was hard to adjust from what we were seeing and have three days to prepare for the pitching we had up here."
Offensively, The Falcons offense was too much for the East Carter defense to corral.
Add those two factors together and the sum is an 8-0 loss for the Redbirds.
"(Kliethermes) had amazing ball movement," junior Naomi Crowley said. "I don't really know how you work on that, but we just have to keep our heads up. I think we kept our heads up the entire game and never gave up."
Despite that, East Carter showed its mettle and still took home a fourth-place medal and plaque for its efforts.
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I just thank God that he's given us the ability to be here because it's all him," Crowley said.
The start of the game, though, couldn't have been much worse for East Carter.
The Redbirds had two baserunners all game, both coming in the fifth inning. Junior Makenna Moore broke the streak of a dozen strikeouts by drawing a walk on a 3-2 pitch, but she was forced out on a fielder's choice that allowed senior Bailey Gargac to replace her at first.
"I felt like the girls finally started making contact with it. We just couldn't put it in play. They were a good team. To me, honestly, that was a second-place team," Kearbey said. "I give them a lot of credit."
Six more strikeouts followed. Makenna Kliethermes finished her pitching day with 18 strikeouts, essentially giving her defense the night off as she accounted for all but three of her team's outs.
"We've gotta be able to make adjustments. We've just got to adjust our swing. It's so hard -- when you're used to coming around and taking a long swing -- to shorten and just make contact," Kearbey said.
After Ellie Kliethermes got on base with a leadoff double to left-center, Brooke Boessen smoked a ball to the same spot, but a bit further. She knocked a two-run shot over the wall to get Blair Oaks on the board right off the bat.
Seemingly every time the Falcons made contact with the ball, a missile came shooting off the barrel of the bat. Blair Oaks finished with six extra-base hits on the night.
After giving up one more run in the second inning, East Carter's defense was able to force a 1-2-3 inning in the third. That was the only scoreless side by the Falcons.
Kathleen Groner was walked with two outs in the fourth, and she added a run after Ellie Kliethersman hit a hard hopper over second base and into center.
A two-RBI double that hit the wall from Peyton Kusgen followed an RBI single from Erin Finnewald in the fifth put the score at 7-0.
Makenna Kliethermes capped the scoring by reaching home on a passed ball.
This game was an opportunity for the young Redbirds to find areas of improvement.
"We've gotta learn on getting our bunts down and just executing when we need to execute," assistant coach Jason Moore said. "Our pitching is there. Our defense is there. We just have to step up and the plate and just get stronger and smarter."