Ottawa wins tournament; Tigers third

Fort Scott High School's softball team opened its season Tuesday night with a third-place finish in its annual home tournament.

Tourney newcomer Ottawa won the championship, starting things off with a 22-4 rout of the Tigers in game one. They beat Spring Hill 6-1 in the championship game while Fort Scott went on to defeat Baxter Springs in the third-place game, 10-4.

Semifinal: Ottawa 22, Fort Scott 4.

Fort Scott scored first. Taylor Krokroskia hit a one-out double, moved up on Kyenne Wade's single and scored on Abi Keating's sacrifice fly.

The Cyclones went on to score 13 runs in their next two turns at bat -- 9 of them in the second inning along -- on 10 hits and 4 Tiger errors.

Fort Scott scored 3 runs in the bottom of the third. Emily Hale drew a walk to lead off the inning. Katie Gorman was hit by a pitch. Taylor Krokroskia walked. Then Wade grounded into a fielder's choice -- Hale was out at home but the bases remained loaded. Gorman scored on a wild pitch. Then Karlee Stanley reached base on an error, which allowed Krokroskia to score. Wade came in on a single to right by designated player Emily Bowman.

Ottawa went on to add another run in the top of the fourth and put up 8 in the top of the fifth. The game ended after five on the 10-run rule.

Fort Scott had 7 hits off two Ottawa pitchers. Bowman had 2 of them.

Third-place: Fort Scott 10, Baxter 4.

The Lions scored first in this one. Brittany Minor singled to right but ended up on second due to a fielding error. She moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball.

Krokroskia hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the inning. Gorman had led off and walked, then stole second. Because the third-place game was being held on the smaller south diamond -- with center field only 184 feet away from the plate -- a rule was in effect that each team could hit only one home run over the fence. Any other ball that went over was a ground-rule double.

Keating came up with 2 out and hit another ball over the fence. But she had to stop at second due to the ground rule and ended up stranded there.

Baxter Springs tied the score in the top of the fourth. But the Tigers went back in front in the bottom half of the frame. Bowman hit a lead-off single, then moved to second on a wild pitch. She later scored on a fielder's choice.

Baxter tied the score 3-3 in the top of the fifth. The Tigers responded with 7 in the bottom of the inning.

Wade led off with a walk. Hannah Coombs went in as a courtesy runner for the pitcher, then stole second. Stanley was hit by a pitch with one out. Bailie Brown drew a 2-out walk. Then Aubrey Ard came up to the plate and brought in Coombs and Stanley with a single to right. A bad throw on the relay from the outfield by the Lions' second baseman allowed Brown to score as well and Ard to reach second.

Hale then drew a walk in front of Gorman's double to left field, which scored Ard. Krokroskia hit another ball over the fence. She had to stop at second but Hale and Gorman both came in. Wade then hit a double to score Krokroskia.

Krokroskia had 3 hits in 4 at-bars and drove in 4 runs for the Tigers, who had 8 hits and drew 7 walks.

Wade bounced back from a rough first-game outing to get the win. She allowed 5 hits and 5 walks while striking out 10. She struck out the side in the fifth and seventh.

The Tigers will be back in action Thursday with their first road games of the season at Girard.

Semifinal

Fort Scott......... 103 00x x -- 4 7 5

WP -- Knight. LP -- Wade (0-1).

HR -- None.

Semifinal

Baxter Springs. 103 00x x -- 0 x x

Third-place

Fort Scott......... 200 170 x -- 10 8 3

WP -- Wade (1-1). LP -- Humphrey.

HR -- Fort Scott: Krokroskia (1, 1st inn., 1 on, none out).

Championship

Spring Hill........ 000 001 0 -- 1 5 2

WP -- Blevins. LP -- Hale.