The Lady Tigers won their first game of the season in a wild finish at Monett Wednesday, beating the Cubs 9-6 in eight innings.
Republic banged out 15 hits against Monett pitcher Kassie McAllister. Freshman pitcher Avery Romans worked a complete game to get the win for the Lady Tigers. She allowed six runs — five earned — on 10 hits, walking three and striking out five.
Liv Collier had a big game at the plate. She went 4-for-5 with two doubles, two runs batted in and two runs scored. Freshman Kaitlyn Ragsdale singled three times, stole three bases, and scored three runs. She had a role in both the 7th- and 8th-inning rallies. Ally Stolte had two hits and drove in three runs. Julia Higgins added two hits and scored a run. Megan Weis, Karleigh Summers, Savana Smith, and Romans had one hit each.
Trailing by a run in the top of the 7th, the Lady Tigers got a leadoff hit by Ragsdale. After Stolte flies out, Ragsdale stole second and scored on a double by Collier to tie the game. Collier advanced to third on a ground-out by Summers ad scored on a passed ball to give Republic the lead.
Monett tied the game in the bottom of the 7th after a walk and two singles with no outs. Monett bunted the runners to 2nd and 3rd base, but Romans struck out the next two batters to escape the jam.
In the top of the 8th, the first two Republic batters were retired, but the Lady Tigers pounded five consecutive hits to score four runs. Weis and Ragsdale singled and scored on a double by Stolte. Collier doubled home Stolte and Summers doubled home Collier.
The Cubs scored a single run in the bottom of the inning before Romans shut them down.
Republic improves to 1-1 this season. They’ll host a double-header Saturday for their home opener. (See the schedules page for details.)
