East Carter wins district title

East Carter players celebrate a 10-inning win over Twin Rivers in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 title game Thursday at Rains Field. (DAILY AMERICAN REPUBLIC/Alex Abate)

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- East Carter took a trip in a time machine Thursday afternoon.

The Lady Redbirds scored in the top of the 10th inning and escaped a jam in the bottom half with the tying run at third to win the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 title over the top-seeded Lady Royals, 3-2, on a muddy Rains Field.

The title win was the first since 2007 when the Lady Redbirds upset Twin Rivers in another one-run game.

"Words can't describe the roller coaster that we have been on and we come back and do this," Bowman said. "I have been doing this for 15 years and I have won some districts but this is the sweetest.

"Ten innings, oh my gosh."

East Carter (10-8) plays the District 2 winner in Greenville on Wednesday.

Twin Rivers, which finished the season 13-5, stranding the tying or winning runner in three of the last four innings and 12 in all.

"We had a lot of opportunities, every one of us that stepped foot on the field here had a chance to do something at one point in the game it seemed like," Brown said. "We just couldn't get that clutch hit or bunt down or we made base-running errors."

Courtney Newman got the win for East Carter, finishing with 11 strikeouts.

"She was on her game today," Bowman said. "I think the louder the crowd was, the more it made her want to do well."

Newman singled to start the 10th for East Carter and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Nicole Neidenberg. After a fielder's choice to shortstop off the bat of Faith Eaves put runners at second and third, Lanna Shaffer hit to the right side and Newman scored under a tag from Twin Rivers catcher Kelsey Snider.

"She hit it to (the right) side which is exactly what she needed to do to score that run," Bowman said of Lanna Shaffer. "She has been coming up big for us for the last several games."

Cindy Nippe started the 10th for Twin Rivers with a single and moved to third on a groundout and wild pitch, but couldn't cross the plate. Newman got a strike out for the second out and fielded a grounder to clinch the title.

"We just didn't come up with a timely hit and had too many mistakes," Brown said.

East Carter got two runs in the first as Newman had a two-run single against starter Chelsea Crain after Lindsey Crowley reached on an error and Kelen Smith walked with one out.

Twin Rivers got on the board in the sixth with a double by Nippe to left-center field that scored Lexi Stockton.

In the seventh, Chelsea Crain singled to shallow center field to score Abby Leutert to tie the game at 2-2. With the bases loaded and one out, Stockton put a ball into play to the left side where shortstop Crowley threw home for the force out before catcher Kimberly Shaffer threw to third to complete a double play.

"We could see that they were up, we just stayed up and didn't get down like we usually do," East Carter third baseman Mariah Randazzo said of her team's mood after Twin Rivers tied the game. "We were talking to each other and keeping each other up, it was phenomenal."

Twin Rivers had another opportunity in the ninth as Leutert singled up the middle to start the inning. Darra Reed hit a ball back to Newman in the circle but her throw to second was high and Leutert advance to third. With one out, Chelsea Crain hit a ball back to Newman who tagged Leutert between third and home for the second out. After Kalyn Snider walked to load the bases, Newman got a swinging strikeout with a full count to extend the game into the 10th.

"You talk about focus, that is focus right there when you can do that," Bowman said.

Newman was nervous to say the least.

"My heart was racing, I was about to have a heart attack, I really think I was," Newman said. "I just thought to myself, 'I have to throw this strike or the game is over' and I really didn't want that to happen so I tried my best and got it in there."

Nippe, who got the loss pitching for the Lady Royals, struck out 13 in 9 1/3 innings of relief.

"She was huge in (the final and semifinal) games," Brown said. "Chelsea had some problems early, she couldn't get a feel for the ball, the conditions were pretty terrible.

"Cindy was in a groove, she just came off that last game 20 minutes earlier so I went to her."