Republic won two games and dropped a third during the opening day of the Ozarks Fall Festival Tournament Friday. The Lady Tigers opened the tournament with a 16-0 win against Locust Grove, Okla., Friday morning. (See a full report on that game here.)
In their second game of the day, Republic fell behind early to Marquette. The Mustangs scored a run in the second inning, then added another run in the top of the fifth to take a 2-0 lead.
Republic evened the score in the bottom of the fifth. Jenna Belcher and Paige Elsenraat both singled with one out, then stole third and second base, respectively. Piper Dishman drove in a run with a groundout and Gracie Woods singled home Elsenraat to tie the game 2-2.
Marquette loaded the bases in the top of the sixth inning, but winning pitcher Kara Goeke worked out of trouble. In the bottom of the sixth, Paige Elsenraat singled withe the bases loaded and two outs to put Republic ahead for the first time, 4-2. Goeke worked a scoreless seventh inning to close out the win.
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In the third game of the day, Grain Valley knocked off Republic 9-3. The Eagles scored a run in the first, and Addison Walker tied the score with a home run for Republic in the bottom of the second. But Grain Valley added two runs in the third, two runs in the fourth, and three in the sixth to make the score 8-1. Another run in the seventh made it 9-1, and a two-run home run by Annabelle Gerhardt-Hobbs in the bottom of the seventh was not enough to spark a comeback.
The Lady Tigers managed just three hits. Cass Ellison was the losing pitcher for Republic.