'Hound softball rally falls short, 4-3

Fort Scott Community College's softball team saw a seventh-inning rally fall short Wednesday as Neosho County held on for a 3-2 win in a Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division make-up game at the Betty Ruth Willard Complex.

This was the second game of a doubleheader, which was suspended in the first inning on March 24. Neosho County led 1-0 when it was suspended due to lightning and 2-0 after three innings.

The Greyhounds got within one run in the bottom of the fifth when Alex Perez scored on Christa Merriman's single to right. Neosho County scored again in the top of the seventh to make it a 3-1 game.

Alex Yeoman singled with one out in the bottom of the seventh for Fort Scott. Then Kylie Wilson and Christa Merriman each hit singled to load the bases for Kaylee Bart. She grounded into a fielder's choice, which allowed Yeoman to score. Another fielder's choice allowed Wilson to score.

Neosho County pitcher Lexie Heiniger (9-5) got Ashley Lake to ground into another fielder's choice to end the inning. Heiniger allowed 2 earned runs on 7 hits, didn't walk anyone and struck out one.

Merriman (8-11) allowed one earned run on 6 hits and 3 walks for Fort Scott. She also went 2 for 4 at the plate while Mikayla Ussery was 2 for 3.

This was the final game of the season for Fort Scott in both division play and for purposes of seeding in the upcoming Region VI Division II Tournament. The Greyhounds finished 5-17 in the division and are 9-17 for seeding purposes. They are 21-26 overall, the most wins the program has seen since 2009, when it was 36-23 under Lauren Sigwing.

The Greyhounds have six regular-season games remaining, all against four-year college's junior varsity teams. They face the Central Methodist JV at the BRW at 2 p.m. Friday and again on the road at noon on Sunday. Their final regular-season games will be played at 2 p.m. Tuesday against the Bacone JV at the BRW.

NOTES -- Head coach Kristin Schalk is just the fifth FSCC coach to lead a Greyhound softball team to 20 wins in a season. The other 20-win seasons came in 1994 (21-26, Scott Ebersold), 2002 (20-26, Brian Bush), 2004 (23-31, Kelly Baker) and 2009 (36-23, Sigwing)....

If the Greyhounds win just three of their six upcoming games, they'll finish with the second-highest win total in the program's history (winning two of six will tie for second-most with the 2004 team)....

When Highland swept Kansas City Wednesday, the Scotties clinched the school's first outright Jayhawk Conference title in any sport since the school joined in the early 2000's, according to information posted on the school's Twitter feed....

Neosho County...... 101 000 11 -- 4 6 2

Fort Scott............ 000 010 20 -- 2 7 2

WP -- Heiniger (9-5). LP -- Merriman 48-11).

HR -- None.