It had been more than a year since a Central Ozark Conference team beat Ozark on the softball field. Republic made sure that streak didn’t last any longer.
Rachel Rook pitched a complete-game shutout, striking out nine in a 3-0 Republic win at Ozark Thursday. Rook allowed six hits, but didn’t walk a batter. She pitched out of trouble more than once. Ozark put runners in scoring position three times, but failed to score.
“Ozark’s got some good hitters. They made Rachel battle all night long, and Rachel does what she does,” says coach Lee Dishman. “She just gutted through it. They fouled off a lot of pitches with some quality at-bats, but she came out on top.”
With her nine strikeouts, Rook has now struck out an even 100 batters in only 56 innings pitched.
The Lady Tigers scored a single run in the top of the first inning, and it turned out that was all they’d need. Caty Eby singled with one out, Kami Holt reached on a fielder’s choice, and Emily Hall singled. Sydney Phillips slapped a line drive to right field to score Holt, and it was 1-0.
The score stayed that way until the sixth, when Holt reached second base on an error and Hall singled. Holt then scored on a passed ball, and courtesy runner Alexis Zaragoza did the same thing a few pitches later. The two insurance runs made it 3-0 and put the game away for Rook and the Lady Tigers.
Hall was 2-for-3 to lead the offense. Rook was 1-for-2 with a walk. Phillips had the only RBI of the game. By and Allie Stolte also had hits for the Lady Tigers.
Republic improves to 9-1 overall. They’re 2-0 in the Central Ozark Conference. They play in the Ozark Fall Festival Tournament this weekend.
Rachel Rook flirted with trouble all game long, but when the game ended, she had nine strikeouts and yet another shutout. Her performance earned her Country Couture Player of the game honors! All season long, Country Couture Boutique is sponsoring a player of the game for Lady Tigers softball. Stop in to their store across from Casey’s on Highway 174 for a complete selection of softball and other Tiger and Lady Tiger apparel.
