Dragons fourth in MC Bash

With wins over Davis and Sulphur Purcell finished fourth in the Murray County Bash last week.

Coach Sarah Jones’ troupe knocked off Davis 9-6 and edged Sulphur 5-4 after losing to Cache 7-5 to start the three day event.

Tecumseh pinned a 10-0 loss on the Dragons in the second game and Latta topped the Dragons 8-2 in game three before Purcell came alive.

Purcell built a commanding 9-1 lead before giving up five runs to the Lady Wolves in the bottom of the fifth.

The Dragons cranked out 10 hits led by freshman Mac McKay who went 3-3 with an RBI.

Purcell trailed Sulphur 2-love heading into the bottom of the fourth.

But the Dragons pushed across a pair of runs in the fourth and added three more in the fifth to win the game.

“We finally finished a ball game,” Jones said. “We grew a lot in those five games. The first three games were tough. We made too many errors and walks and left too many people on base.

“We finally brought it all together in the Davis game stringing hits.

“Kailynn Helton pitched a great game by hitting her spots and having us make plays on defense. Our defense is starting to settle in and get comfortable. We were confident in what we were doing at the plate and in the field,” the coach said.

McKay led the hitting for Purcell in the tournament going 6-12 including three doubles. KK Eck was right on her heels going 5-11 also with a trio of doubles. Hadleigh Harp and Lili Del Toro both had 3-7 tournaments.

Harp stole five bases and Lauren Holmes was 4-13 but led the team with eight RBIs.

“A lot of people played big roles,” Jones said.

In the bottom of the fifth Payci Constant started the at-bat with a bunt single followed by Eck getting hit by a pitch. McKay singled and Holmes smacked a sharp ground ball to second causing an error to score Payci and KK to knot the score. McKay scored from third on a passed ball for the win.

The Dragons followed up on Monday spanking Little Axe 9-3 for their first district victory. They started out last week with district losses to Chandler, 6-4 and Bethel, 5-4.

“We didn’t start off district play the way we wanted to,” Jones said. “In both games we started off hot but weren’t able to finish. We had too many walks, errors and left too many runners on base.”

In the Little Axe victory Purcell’s sticks came alive pounding out 13 hits.

Hannah Whitaker led the hit parade going 3-4 with three RBIs. Kenna Esparza, Eck, McKay and Harp all had two hits in the contest. Eck doubled and had an RBI and Harp lined a triple in her 2-3 outing that included stealing three bases.

“We got to welcome back Ella Resendiz and Savanna Edwards for the Little Axe game,” Jones said.

Helton started in the circle going three innings and striking out four. Resendiz came in in the fourth and fanned eight giving the two pitchers a combined 12 strikeout game.

“Savanna and Ella are working their way back into feeling comfortable at the plate,” the coach said.

“Overall I think our growth and maturity over the last week is what is so impressive,” Jones continued. “We had to get down to bare bones and lay it all out there to everyone.

“They responded really well by taking it and overcoming a lot of things. We figured out that we have to trust each other and that it will take every person doing their job to make things work.

“We are fortunate enough that we have girls who can play multiple positions and have a strong lineup behind those that are starting that we can put it at any time. Coach Raper and I are really proud of the girls for overcoming a lot of adversity this past week and are looking forward to the future holds with this group,” Jones concluded.

Purcell was scheduled to play at Lexington Tuesday and will be in the Plainview Tournament Thursday and Friday. They open the tourney against Norman High.