Purcell’s Dragons won the Plainview Softball Tournament last week ditching Norman, Pauls Valley and the host Lady Indians in the finals.
Hannah Whitaker swung the biggest stick in the tournament going 5-8, followed by a 3-8 performance by Ella Resendiz, who had six RBI’s. Savanna Edwards went 3-7 with a double and Lauren Holmes was 2-6 with a double, two RBI’s and a pair of walks.
Whitaker was 10 for 16 on the week when the Dragons went undefeated in four outings. Included in that torrid pace was a grand slam and seven RBIs.
Resendiz, KK Eck, Hadleigh Harp and Kenna Esparza all had four hits during the week when the Dragons out-hit opponents 39-20. Holmes, MacKenzie McKay and Edwards each had a trio of hits and Kailynn Helton had two.
Purcell got the successful week off to a good start shutting out Lexington 6-0 at Lex last Tuesday.
“Every at bat didn’t go our way but the way we responded is what changed,” head coach Sarah Jones said.
“We had a completely different tempo against Lexington and I think it is when we officially turned everything around and realized what we are capable of,” Jones said.
Whitaker’s in-the-park grand slam was one of her two hits in the contest. Eck, Holmes, Harp and Esparza all had hits in the game.
Purcell squared off with Norman in the first round of the Plainview Tournament and promptly posted a 7-1 victory.
Whitaker, pitching her first full game of the season, limited the Tigers to four hits.
“We backed her up defensively and kept the pressure on by stringing hits together and hitting the ball really well,” Jones said.
Whitaker helped her own cause going 3-3 at the plate and Resendiz went yard with the bases juiced for Purcell’s second grand slam in as many games.
Despite stranding five base runners in the semifinals, Purcell edged Pauls Valley 3-2 to move to the finals.
“We hit a bit of adversity when we weren’t able to get the clutch hits we needed but we made it happen,” Jones said. “We fed off finding a way to get people on whether it be by a walk, HBP or an error.”
With the game knotted at 2 apiece heading into the final inning Lili Del Toro led off with a walk. Esparza’s sacrifice bunt caused an error followed by an Eck bunt. McKay was hit by a pitch and Del Toro scored on a passed ball to win the game.
“Ella pitched a really good game in the circle making things happen and the defense backed her up,” the coach said.
Holmes came through in the first inning with a two out line drive to left center field to score Purcell’s only two runs of the finals but it was all they needed in a 2-1 championship victory.
“Ella had a great game in the circle only allowing four hits but they weren’t able to string anything together.
“Our defense looked really good and our intensity was great from the beginning to end,” Jones said. “This was a really good ending to a great tournament. Plainview is a very competitive 4A-team. Their pitcher got us quite a few times at the plate but we slowly made adjustments when we needed to.”
Monday’s game with Meeker was rained out. The two teams will play a doubleheader here September 20.
At 9-6, the Dragons were scheduled to travel to Vanoss Tuesday.
The Dragons are scheduled to host Crooked Oak today (Thursday) and host Chandler next Tuesday.
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