Wright, Jones come up clutch to send Eagles to state final four in 2-1 victory

by Michael Smith, Grain Valley News
 
Disaster struck for Grain Valley head softball coach Flip Courter.
 
Earlier in the morning before his team’s big Class 5 state quarterfinal game against Liberty North, he had to go to an emergency room at a local hospital due to a painful kidney stone.
 
He wasn’t about to let that keep him from missing the Eagles’ biggest game in years, though, as he managed to get to Grain Valley High School 20 minutes before the 1 p.m. start time.
 
Courter was there to help coach his team, while his assistant coaches Kylie Boehmer, Katie Kelly and Brian Driskell helped set up the field and get the team through pregame warmups.
 
His Eagles came through as senior Addie Wright came through with the go-ahead, run-scoring hit and junior starting pitcher Molly Jones spun another gem in a 2-1 victory in nine innings vs. Liberty North, which sent the team to its first state final four since 2012.
 
“It doesn’t hurt near as bad after a win,” Courter said of the kidney stone. “We have such an outstanding staff with Coach Boehmer, Coach Kelly and Coach Driskell. They were able to help out and pick up the slack this morning.
 
“As long as the emergency room wasn’t taking too long, there was no way I was missing this game. I am glad they were able to cooperate with us. This was an experience I won’t forget.”
 
Grain Valley will take on Columbia Rock Bridge in the state semifinals at noon on Oct. 30 at Meador Park in Springfield.
 
Grain Valley (30-6) ran into some bad luck against Liberty North starting pitcher Hunter Anderson-Jones as they hit the ball hard multiple times throughout the game but oftentimes resulted in a lineout right at an opposing infielder or a sparkling defensive play by the visitors.
 
Boehmer kept her team encouraged despite the bad luck on hard-hit balls.
 
“Coach Boehmer is the most supportive coach I have ever had,” Wright said. “We were hitting the ball hard and she told us, ‘It’s going to fall.’”
 
The team finally broke through in the top of the ninth inning. Senior designated player Morgan Hart, who struck out in her last two at bats, nearly hit a home run as she drilled an opposite field double off the right field fence.
 
Courter had senior Ava Rosetti pinch run for Hart before senior catcher Olivia Slaughter hit a pop fly out.
 
“If she’s not our fastest runner, she’s in the top two,” Courter said of Rosetti. “We hold onto her for those types of situations. We were going to wave her around no matter what on a hit.”
 
With one out, senior third baseman Addie Wright came up with the biggest hit of her career when she hit a ground ball single up the middle to score Rosetti from second base to put her team up by one run.
 
After the big hit, she turned toward her teammates in the dugout and raised her arms and clinched her fists multiple times in celebration.
 
“I’ve been in a pretty big slump these past few games so that was huge,” said Wright, who got her second hit of the postseason. “I was excited when I saw the center fielder bobbling the ball. I knew that we got it after that.”
 
Senior Ashlynn McConnell later singled to put runners at second and first with one out but Kenzie Rust lined into a double play caught by Kinley Johnson, which was the third of the game for Grain Valley.
 
With how well Jones was pitching for Grain Valley, the bad luck at the dish for her squad didn’t matter. Earlier in the contest, she surrendered a two-out double Johnson in the bottom of the seventh to set up a walk-off opportunity for the visiting Eagles, but induced a flyout to center field off the bat of Peyton Cleary to get out of it.
 
Jones then pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and ninth inning and got the game-sealing strikeout, getting Anderson-Jones to chase a rise ball out of the strike zone. That sent her team into a frenzy as her teammates met her in the circle as the Eagles put their arms around each other and jumped up and down and were screaming in jubilation.
 
Jones pitched a complete game and allowed one run, which came on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Avary Sharpnack in the sixth inning. She gave up five hits, walked one and struck out five. Jones also had a run-scoring single in the first inning to give Grain Valley an early lead.
 
At times in the game, Jones was smiling in the circle, as she said she is at her best when she’s in a cheerful mood.
 
“Sometimes these pressure situations are the best moments,” Jones said. “I have my entire defense behind me, and they are going to do whatever it takes to not let a ball drop. I have an amazing catcher that helps calm me down. I wouldn’t want any other team in a stressful situation.”
 
Added Courter: “(Jones) smiles a lot and is goofy at times, but beneath that smile and goofy facade, there’s a stone-faced assassin in the circle. I don’t know if there’s too many people around that want to win as badly as she does.”

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Photo credit: Michael Smith