Holcomb Lady Hornets lose close one to Jasper in final four, 3-0

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- The Holcomb Lady Hornets finished a close one in Springfield on Monday, as they were on the other side of a 3-0 win by Jasper.

Holcomb finished their softball season with an amazing 27-7 record.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow when you get to this point in the season and you don’t expect to do anything but win it all,” said Holcomb Head coach Matt Casper. “We just came up short today against Jasper, tip your hats to them. They played really well and are fundamentally sound.”

This was only the second time all year that Holcomb had been shut out. The first time was their first game of the year against Valley View, a school in Arkansas.

“I mean obviously we got to hit the ball better,” said Casper. “The bats have been there all year, and I feel like we have faced pretty good pitching throughout the year, but it just wasn’t in the cards for us today. It’s unfortunate, but if we hit the ball better I think we have a shot at taking third place.”

Holcomb had one hit on the day. Montana Long was able to record that hit on a single in the second inning.

Jasper’s pitcher, Osborn, threw a fantastic game in this one. She finished with seven innings pitched, one hit allowed, three batters walked, and 14 strikeouts.

“Their pitcher, well she pitched about as well as you can pitch,” said Casper. “I didn’t dream that our hitter would struggle as much as they did based off what we have done this year, but they did at the wrong time of year. I know that they are frustrated, and I know I’m frustrated for them. I hate they won’t get the opportunity to win a state championship with this group, but these things happen. This time of year anything can happen.”

Alyssa Brown also pitched a good game for the Hornets, and the defense behind her played fairly clean, which is why it was so tough for the Jasper Eagles to score and win.

Brown pitched six innings for the Lady Hornets, allowed one hit, three runs, walked two batters, and had three strikeouts.

The Lady Hornets were then tasked with playing for third place, after the heartbreaking loss to Jasper, which can be tough in its own right.

“This is definitely not ideal, we have a lot of emotional players over there, and it might be hard for them to recharge their batteries and get ready to compete in this next one,” said Casper. “But you just have to find a way to do it. We got to play for pride. We aren’t competing for a state championship anymore, but we are competing for pride and third place. So we just have to move on and hopefully these girls and re-charge their batteries, and we got to be ready to go.”

While third place is not what they wanted, it’s better to try and finish the year on a good note rather than a bad.

HLCM- 000 000 0 - 0 1 1

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Holcomb (0)- Batting: TB: Montana Long 1

SB: Emma Bader, Kaetlyn Danley

Pitching: Alyssa Brown (6.0IP, 1H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 3SO)

Jasper (3) - Batting 2B: Osborn

Pitching: G Osborn (7.0IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 14SO)