Kennett Lady Indians come back from 7 run deficit to win third place in state tournament

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- The Kennett Lady Indians battled in a game for third place in the class 2 state playoffs. After losing a close 7-6 game to Diamond, Kennett was tasked with beating Park Hills Central, in which they did 8-7.

The Lady Indians did not start this game great, and who can blame them, as it’s kind of hard to go from one tough heartbreaking loss to another game in less than an hour. However, they got the job done.

The Lady Indians were down by seven in this one to Park Hills.

“This is a relentless bunch,” said Kennett head coach Logan Dollins. “This is a bunch of girls that show up and work their tails off, and they don’t have any quit in them. I’m super proud of everything they have put in this year, and super proud of the win in that third place final.”

Kennett was able to make a comeback off the strength of their bats. They finished this one with 14 hits.

“I really think the kickstart was Orf hitting the home run, which got everybody going, said Dollins. “Then Hadley followed it up with a big double off the wall, and it kind of got contagious, and that kind of gave us a little bit of energy. It’s just tough to come out after a loss the way we did, so it took up four or five innings to get things going, and once we got going, we did.”

The Lady Indians did well on the mound as well. While they allowed 11 hits, the defense was great overall.

“I thought Handley ended up throwing it extremely well,” praised Dollins.

Handley McAtee got the nod to start for the Lady Indians against Park Hills, after Anelle Harris started the game an hour before their matchup with Park Hills.

All of the girls that gave up their time and put in the work this year deserve their credit. Especially the seniors, who played their last high school softball game on Monday.

“We are losing five really, really good seniors l, so we got to find a way to get back here,” stressed Dollins. “I don’t know what that way will be yet, but that is something we will access this summer. We are going to try and put some pieces of the puzzle together, and hopefully we can string some stuff together and kind of see where we will be.”

While the Indians are losing a lot of great players. They have built a string foundation for years to come. The Kennett Lady Indians are known as a great softball program, especially in the bootheel. They will be back to the final four.

“The goal is to win a state championship every single year,” said Dollins. “I had every intention of coming into this year and winning a state championship. But we just fell a run short, a few a bats and it’s a different ball game. I’m the future we will rebuild and go out and play hard every single day and prepare the wya we normally do and whichever way it falls it will fall.”

Congratulations to a great season by the Kennett Lady Indians softball team on a third place state finish.