There is usually an advantage to earning the number one seed in a tournament, however, that wasn't the case after the 2024 Ozark Highlands Conference softball tournament was forced to move locations from Warsaw to Versailles due to the abundance of rain received in the area over the weekend. Time slots were unfavorable for the Ladycats as well when they were slated to play back-to-back games and those factors, coupled with some untimely mistakes led to their upset in the championship game of this year's event in a 6-5 loss to Eldorado Springs on Monday night, the team's first loss since mid-March.
The game was tied at 1-1 at the end of the first inning, but the Lady Bulldogs pushed across 2 runs in the third and 1 more in the fourth to take a 4-1 lead.
On the brink, the Ladycats resilience came through in the bottom of the fourth when, with 2 outs, they staged a rally of their own. Haylee Cobb led the surge with a single, followed by a walk issued to Adison Sherrill. Tanna Howe came up behind them and belted a triple to score both runners and then Brylee Brewster came to the plate and singled on a hard ground ball through the left side to score Howe and give Warsaw the 5-4 lead.
The fifth and sixth frames proved uneventful for both teams, unless one counts the fact that, with the Ladycats up to bat in the bottom of the sixth, the night went dark when every light in the house abruptly shut off and delayed the game for several minutes.
The Lady Bulldogs scored 2 in the top of the seventh on a Ladycats error and a fielder's choice to reclaim the lead at 6-5 and Warsaw would need to mount another comeback to pull out another win.
Howe led off the inning and was ruled out on a more than questionable call at first base. Brewster drew a walk and Elizabeth Winters singled to put two runners on with just 1 out, but back-to-back strikeouts by Sara Miller and Jaylen McCullick ended the threat, and the night, with a 6-5 Ladycats loss.
Cobb led Warsaw with 3 hits while 1 apiece was contributed by Sherrill, Howe, Brewter and Winters.
Brewster took the loss in the circle. She went all 7 innings, yielded 6 runs (3 earned) on 3 hits and struck out 14.
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In a game just prior to the championship, the Ladycats used a 6 run fifth inning to secure their berth in the title game with a 9-0 win over Buffalo.
Warsaw put up 1 run in the first inning when Sara Miller was hit by a pitch to force in 1 run and scored their other 2 runs in the fourth frame when Miller scored on a wild pitch and Mady Reimund connected on an RBI single, scoring Bri Fellers.
Brylee Brewster and Miller both had hits in the sixth, however, the Ladycats also took advantage of 3 walks and 1 error to tally their 6 runs.
Haylee Cobb paced Warsaw with 2 hits while 1 each was added by Brewster, Miller and Reimund.
Brewster earned her 18th win of the season. She threw all 5 innings, allowed 0 runs on 3 hits and struck out 9.
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The Ladycats (22-2) will now set their sights on the Class 2 District 7 tournament where they'll take on Pleasant Hope (1-16) in the opening round on Friday at 5:00 PM. All district games will be held in Buffalo.
