CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — Webb City crossed the plate 18 times in the first inning Wednesday afternoon at Carl Junction High School in the first round of the Class 4 District 7 tournament.
The No. 1-seed Cardinals (24-9) went on to defeat No. 8 Ruskin (2-24) 20-0 to advance to the district semifinals.
Webb City was led offensively by Liz Rhuems’ 3-for-3 performance at the plate in the first inning. Rhuems led off with a double to left field. She came around to score on a double by Lily Hall.
The Cardinals got a big rally going in the first inning as they notched 10 hits off of Ruskin’s Jenesis Harris to get those 18 runs. They took advantage of three errors, two hit batters and three walks as well.
“Seeing slow pitching, something we worked on yesterday at practice was keeping our hands behind the ball, so, seeing something a little bit slower makes us really concentrate on keeping our hands behind so we can see it travel a little bit longer,” Webb City head coach Kathy Harris said.
Sophomore Brecklynn Sargent lofted a pitch high into the air into left field that carried a long way over the outfield fence for a two-run home run to make it 6-0.
Rhuems came back to the plate and roped a triple into left, driving in three runs to make it 9-0.
Prior to that at-bat, an error had benefitted Webb City to still have no one out yet in the inning. A ground ball to second base was booted and the throw went high over the first baseman.
Rhuems’ triple started a streak of three consecutive three-baggers as Hall and Alex Maturino followed with triples of their own.
Alivia Nieburg skied a ball into centerfield that Ruskin’s outfielder just barely overran and it hit in the top part of her glove and bounced out. That error allowed a run to cross and was the second miscue of the inning. Webb City took a 12-0 lead at that point.
Rhuems came up to bat still with no one out and lined a ball back to left field for a triple that emptied a bases-loaded situation to make it 18-0. She finished 3 for 3 in the game with six RBIs and two runs scored.
A Karsyn Cahoon double to left field drove in the final two runs in the second inning to make it 20-0.
Webb City pitched three pitchers one inning each. Addie Burns got the start and didn’t allow a single hit in the first inning.
Nieburg pitched the second frame and gave up a hit to Ariana Hernandez. But she later got a double play on a line drive snared at first base. Hernandez was off the bag and was doubled up.
Avrie Allen finished the job by retiring the Eagles in order in the third frame.
Webb City meets No. 4 Belton (20-13) which defeated No. 5 Raytown (6-14) 15-0. That semifinal game is at 5 p.m. Friday. The two teams have not met yet this season.
“Looking forward, we want to make sure we’re staying completely disciplined in the box and looking for pitches that we can drive. We’ve talked about that all week for us to be successful moving forward,” Harris said.
