Lady Bulldogs hold off La Plata rally to reach state, 5-4

The Gallatin Lady Bulldogs built a 5-0 mid-game lead, then held off a La Plata squad that had a four-run sixth inning surge, winning Saturday’s Class 1 state quarterfinal 5-4 in softball action broadcast on KGOZ FM 101.7. 

The win pushes Gallatin into the semifinals of Class 1 this Friday, with a contest against the Paris Lady Coyotes from the Killian Sports Complex at 11 o’clock in the morning, covered on KTTN FM 92.3. 

With Layne Mack of La Plata and Brynn Bird of Gallatin matching each other in a scoreless start to the contest, Gallatin opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning, with a Karydon Jones lead-off double followed by a Channing McBroom base hit leaving two on and nobody out.  A strikeout of Addie Miller brought sophomore Paige Heldenbrand to the plate.  Tom Johnson had the call on KGOZ: 

In the 5th inning, Gallatin put back-to-back one-out base hits together from Bird and Tegan Eversole, with a Karydon Jones single sending the lead to 3-0.  Following a pop-out from Channing McBroom, Addie Miller had a chance to extend the lead: 

With a seemingly comfortable five-run lead and six outs to go, Gallatin stumbled in the sixth, with La Plata sending eight batters to the plate.  An Ashlynn Lewis triple scored Hannah Mitchell, who had reached via a dropped fly ball, to cut the lead to 5-1.  A pair of walks followed to load the bases.  A force-out at home, from Bird to McBroom, cut down the lead runner, but Izzy Joyce scored on a wild pitch, Kohyn Wood scored on an Emma Ralston single, with a straight steal of home by Macy Davidson cutting the lead to one.  Bird escaped further damage with a strikeout as Ralston, representing the tying run, was stranded at third. 

La Plata put the tying run on base on an Emma Mitchell single to lead off the seventh, but Bird buckled down to retire Hannah Mitchell on a pop-out to Eversole with Lewis going down on a strikeout.

With two out and the tying run on first base, Bird clinched reservations for the Lady Bulldogs for Springfield: 

Lady Bulldog head coach Penny Gardner noted the strong mental fortitude, and in particular, Brynn Bird, showed in rebounding from La Plata’s sixth inning surge: 

The win improves the GRC Champion Lady Bulldogs to 23-8, while La Plata, the defending Class 1 state champions, end another successful season at 22-7.

Gallatin R-V officials have announced that there will be no school in the district on Friday, November 1st to accommodate the Lady Bulldog fans traveling to Springfield.  The Bulldogs first-round district football game, a home contest with Maysville, has been moved to Halloween Night, Thursday, October 31st, at 7 o’clock.  Rod Tompkins will have the call on KTTN FM 92.3.  Mid-Buchanan’s trip to the Class 2 softball event has moved the Lathrop at Mid-Buchanan football district game to Thursday night at 7, with Stanberry’s eight-man district football game at Worth County moved to Thursday night at 7:30, as the Lady Bulldogs have advanced to the state semifinals for the first time in program history.   

A Gallatin Lady Bulldog softball “send-off” will be held at Gallatin High School between 8:50 and 9:10 on Thursday morning.  Following one trip around the Gallatin Square just following the 9:15 departure from campus, the Lady Bulldogs will begin their trek south to Springfield.

Other state quarterfinal scores from Saturday, October 26, 2024: 

Stanberry 2, Princeton 0 

St. Elizabeth 9, Norwood 3

Paris 8, Northeast (Cairo) 6

Chaffee 3, Elsberry 2

Mid-Buchanan 3, Carrollton 0 

Linn 8, Hartville 2

Highland 9, South Harrison 0 (on KTTN FM 92.3) 

Sullivan 10, Saxony Lutheran 0 

Oak Grove 8, Savannah 2

Centralia 1, Winfield 0 

Blair Oaks 6, Nevada 3

Cor Jesu Academy 4, Notre Dame (Cape Girardeau) 3

Belton 1, Kearney 0 

Westminster Christian Academy 3, Incarnate Word Academy 2

Tolton Catholic 3, Bolivar 0 

Lafayette (Wildwood) 4, Jackson 1

Liberty North 5, Raymore-Peculiar 2

Helias Catholic 7, Francis Howell 1

Rock Bridge 12, Kickapoo 4