Lady Marksmen Take 2nd In State

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The Sherwood Lady Marksmen softball program beat Mid-Buchanan 5-1 on Oct. 20. This win was made even more special because Mid-Buchanan had beaten Sherwood earlier in the year 4-3. The Marksmen then beat Iberia in the State Semi-Finals 2-0 on Friday, Oct. 29. Sherwoods’ catcher, Rebekah Riffle hit the two run HR in this exciting game. The Lady Marksmen moved on to play Marceline in the State Champion game on Saturday, Oct. 30 at the Lady Bear Softball Stadium in Springfield. It was a pitchers duel (1-1) until the seventh inning. The Marceline Blue Jays hit two home runs in the top of the seventh inning to go up 4-1. The Lady Marksmen got two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh inning to bring the tieing run to the plate. Hope was in the air but the RBIs were not. The Marksmen were State Champs in 2019 but it did not happen this time.
Kennedy Diggs was on the mound for Sherwood and collected nine Ks in the game but she also gave up three HRs that accounted for the Lady Blue Jays four runs. The Marksmen sole run was scored in the first inning. The Marksmen got a ground ball single and collected three walks that pushed the run across. Marceline hit a solo blast in the fourth to tie things up. The Blue Jays used the long ball again (2X) in the top of seventh with one of them dramatically hitting the top of the wall. The Lady Marksmen finished 24-7. Defensively the Marksmen had several highlights. Sarah Dunker at second made a couple of outstanding catches. Another defensive highlight came when Sherwood catcher Riffle made a perfect throw to Kinna Kelso at third that put a perfect tag on a Marcelen runner. Good stuff.
It is always hard watching any ball club that had a great season come up just one game short. They were understandably disappointed. The Sherwood Marksmen seniors accepted their State 2nd Place trophy from the MSHSAA official with tears in their eyes. Only time can help student-athletes, especially the seniors, see experiences like this in proper perspective. Looking at the line up, the Marksmen had three seniors on the field, #2 Shelby Crawford, #11 Hailey Gudenkauf and #8 Mackenzie Roofener. The Sherwood squad had two varsity juniors; #17 Sarah Dunker and #15 Rebekah Riffle. They also had four sophomores: #24 Lily Conner, #22 Kennedy Diggs, #25 Kinna Kelso and #13 Layla Septer. With this kind of depth coming back in 2022 the future for the Lady Marksmen still looks bright. They have been in the State Playoffs five of the last seven years, so making it six could realistically happen. Their head coach is Lonny Price assisted by Megan Dohrman. Go Lady Marksmen.