Tigers finish third at home

Fort Scott's Kaleigh Armstrong follows through on her swing duing the Fort Scott Invitational at the Fort Scott Country Club Tuesday afternoon. Armstrong tied for 11th place with a nine-hole score of 56, helping the Tigers to a third-place finish.

With Columbus and Girard in the field, finishing third in your home tournament still means you had a good day.

On the other hand, Fort Scott High's team score of 224 that it posted at its home invitational at Fort Scott Country Club Tuesday was actually a bit higher than their season-low 217 at Moran Friday.

"I'm very pleased to place third in our home tournament (but) not too happy, however, with the team score of 224," Fort Scott head coach Karen Curran said. "Cassie Ogran scored much better but Adrianne (Tourtillott), Brittany (Fowler) and Kaleigh (Armstrong) need to still drop a few more stroked. Brandy (Hutchison) is playing pretty consistently and, hopefully, will start breaking 60 before long."

Columbus shot 219 over the nine holes played with Girard coming in at 220 and Fort Scott at 224. Pittsburg was fourth in the nine-team field with a 229.

McKenzie Hatfield led the individual field with a 44 as she helped Columbus take the team title. Kayla Norman of Marmaton Valley was second with a 47.

Tourtillott and Fowler each shot 54 for the Tigers with Tourtillott awarded sixth on the scorecard tie-breaker. Arm-strong just missed a medal as she finished tied for 11th with a 56. Ogran finished with a 60, 14 shots better than Friday and 11 under her previous season best. Hutchison shot 64 to finish in a tie for 29th.

The Tigers will play 18 holes for the first time this season Thursday at Girard. Play there will begin at 10 a.m.

"That will be a good test of our endurance and mental toughness at this point of the season," Curran says. "We'll see the toughest competition of the season so far at that tournament. So if we can do well there, then we know what we're up against come Regionals."

NOTES -- Fort Scott, Yates Center and Girard were the only schools with more than one medalist....

Team scores

1. Columbus (C) 219 (Hatfield 44, Hale 56, Newcomb 57, Fletcher 62), 2. Girard (GR) 220 (West 49, Curran 50, Harris 59, McFarland 62), 3. Fort Scott (FS) 224 (Tourtillott 54, Fowler 54, Armstrong 56, Ogran 60),

4. Pittsburg (P) 229 (Soper 49, Kloster 59, Lair 60, Thenikl 61), 5. Yates Center (YC) 231 (German 55, Morrison 55, Martin 60, Guimond 61), 6. Marmaton Valley (MV) 232 (Norman 47, Catron 56, Hart 64, LaRue 65),

7. Nevada 236 (Mansfield 58, Campbell 59, Kingman 59, Turner 60), 8. Oswego (OS) 274 (Walker 55, Fuller 64, Tullis 76, Riley 79), 9. Galena 284 (Hammond 64, Burris 67, Hall 73), Taylor 80.

Medalists

1. McKenzie Hatfield, C, 44; 2. Kayla Norman, MV, 47; 3. Courtney West, GR, 49; 4. Monica Soper, P, 49; 5. Ashley Curran, GR, 50;

6. Adrianne Tourtillott, FS, 54; 7. Brittany Fowler, FS, 54; 8. Callie German, YC, 55; 9. Ashley Walker, OS, 55; 10. Abbie Morrison, YC, 55.