Kennedy Smithson pitched a complete game and drove in two runs as Republic beat Columbia Battle 7-1 Friday at the Springfield Invitational, after losing 3-2 to Bolivar earlier in the day.
Bolivar 3, Republic 2
Paetyn Albright hit a two-run homer to center field in the fourth inning, three batters after Cydny Wolhoy hit a solo homer to tie the game, and Bolivar held on to beat the Lady Tigers.
Jayma Pitchford gave Republic the lead in the first inning with a single to right that scored Mia Carnes. Carnes walked, Chloe Simpson singled and Maddie Taylor walked to load the bases ahead of Pitchford, and Bolivar right fielder Aubrey Gonzales threw Simpson out at the plate on the same play that scored Carnes.
Pitchford kept Bolivar scoreless through three innings before the two homers in the fourth. Carnes homered to center in the fifth to cut the lead to 3-2.
Republic put runners on first and third in both the fourth and sixth innings. Myleigh Mooneyham was hit by a pitch and stole second and third both times, but the Lady Tigers failed to get her home.
Game page →Wolhoy pitched all six innings for Bolivar and allowed four hits and two runs with five walks and three strikeouts. Pitchford allowed five hits and three runs in five innings.
Republic 7, Battle 1
Smithson allowed seven hits, all singles, and did not walk a batter, and the only run against her was unearned. She also singled in two runs in a five-run sixth inning.
Battle scored in the first, and Republic tied it in the fourth when Smithson reached on an error to score Emma Ellison, who had doubled. Harper Lankford, running for Smithson, went to third on Madi Chevalier’s single and stole home to give Republic a 2-1 lead.
Kendra Goeke and Ellison walked with one out in the sixth, and both scored on Smithson’s single to center. Lankford scored on an error on Maddie Carter’s pop fly, and Mooneyham doubled to left to score Carter and Chevalier.
Battle put two runners on in the bottom of the sixth, but Smithson got a pop out and a fly out to end the game. Smithson was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Carnes had two hits and Mooneyham drove in two runs.
Republic is 8-15-1. The Lady Tigers play Liberty, Rolla and Francis Howell Saturday in the Springfield Invitational.
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