Lady Dragons blast Jacksboro 23-3 to earn school's first playoff trip in three years
By Robert Morgan | Published Sunday, April 26, 2009
There has not been any playoff chatter at Chico High School in years as the last Dragon team in any sport to make it into the postseason was in 2006. That was the year the softball team rode the arm of Wendy Rhone and a line-up full of sluggers.
The playoff silence ended Tuesday against Jacksboro. The Lady Dragons pelted the Tiger defense with 12 hits, took advantage of nine walks and every batter got on base at least once en route to a 23-3 come-from-behind victory that ended in the third inning via the 20-run mercy rule.
The win guarante Chico a spot in the Class 2A state playoffs next week. The Lady Dragons' playoff run has been spectacular as they have won their last six games by outscoring opponents 75-13 and all but one of those games ended via the mercy rule.
"We didn't play as well as we are capable but we hit well and made up for some shoddy fielding as we didn't seem to be real focused in the early stages of the game," Coach Mike May said. "The key thing is that we won and that increases our win streak as we have swept our last six opponents which we had to do in order to make the playoffs."
The Tigers scored the first two runs of the game but Chico scored the next 23 to collect its most lopsided victory of the season.
"It's hard to evaluate this game because Jacksboro has really struggled this year and isn't one of the better teams in our district," said May. "The win clinched a playoff spot for us and that was the most important."
After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning, the Lady Dragons had their way with Jacksboro in the bottom half scoring 14 runs on seven hits, six walks and two hit batsmen.
Malori Moss and Rachel McKinley had the first hits of the game and also scored to tie the game at 2-2. Shanna Fatheree had an RBI single and Stephanie Stephens knocked in a run to make it a 5-2 ball game.
Chico, which batted the order twice in the first inning, got a two-run double by Moss, two-run single via Stephens and a two-run single by Hannah Avants to move ahead 14-2.
Jessica Coffman, who allowed just two hits, did not give up an earned run and kept the Tiger bats at bay. Jacksboro scored all three of its runs on errors.
Chico went ahead by 20 in the second inning after tacking on nine more runs. Nikki Weatherly and Coffman led off with singles to center field and both scored on hits by Kaci Walker and Avants to make it 16-2.
The runs kept crossing home plate on RBI singles from Cameron Bowyer and Stephens and a three-run double by McKinley. Moss followed with an RBI triple and Delani Long and Avants followed with RBI singles to make it 23-2.
The Tigers scored the first and last runs of the game and used a throwing error in the third inning to score once.
