Henryetta secures Top 2 spot in 3A-8 with 7-2 win

The Henryetta Lady Knight varsity fastpitch softball team secured a Top 2 finish in the District 3A-8 standings Wednesday afternoon with a 7-2 victory over the Vian Lady Wolverines in Vian.

The win over Vian puts the Lady Knights at 10-1 in district play with one district contest remaining (Thursday at home against Eufaula) and assures the Henryetta diamond squad will begin postseason play next week in front of their hometown fans.

Prior to Wednesday’s road win over Vian, the Lady Knights began the week on Monday, traveling to Eufaula for a district showdown with the Eufaula Lady Ironheads. In Monday’s district battle, the Henryetta diamond squad suffered their first district loss of 2023, falling by a 10-0 margin to the host Lady Ironheads.

The Lady Knights were originally scheduled to make the trip to Vian on Tuesday, but the road game was pushed back one day due to wet field conditions in Vian.

In Monday’s shutout loss to Eufaula, the Lady Knights were held to just two hits in the contest – a one-out single in the third by Kinley Miller and a one-out single in the fifth by Winter Beaver.

Eufaula opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, then added five in the second, one in the fourth, and two in the fifth for the 10-0 decision.

Allie Davis was saddled with the pitching loss for Henryetta, allowing 10 runs on 10 hits with one walk, one strikeout, and one hit batter in four and two-third innings of work.

In Wednesday’s road game at Vian, the host Lady Wolverines opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the second.

The Lady Knights plated a run in the top of the fourth to knot the score at 1-1 after three and onehalf innings of action.

After a scoreless fifth, the Henryetta diamond squad took over the lead, 3-1, courtesy of a 2-run home run to center field by Serenity Rex in the top of the sixth. Shelby Kilhoffer began the 2-run sixth with a leadoff triple to left, then Rex sent the first pitch she saw over the outfield wall for the go-ahead extra-base hit.

Vian made it a 3-2 contest with a run in the bottom of the sixth, then the visiting Lady Knights plated four runs in the top of the seventh to push their lead to five, 7-2, with one-half of an inning of regulation remaining.

The Henryetta defense kept the host Lady Wolverines off the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the 7-2 victory and secure one of the top two spots in the 3A-8 standings.

The top hitters for the Lady Knights on Wednesday were Rex (3 for 4, 2 doubles, home run, 2 RBIs) and Ailanee Hicks (3 for 3, 3 singles, 2 RBIs) with three hits apiece. Besides her go-ahead 2-run home run in the sixth, Rex had one-out doubles in the fourth and seventh innings, respectively. One of Hicks’ RBIs came in the 4-run seventh on an RBI sacrifice fly.

Kilhoffer (2 for 4, single, triple) and Winter Beaver (2 for 4, 2 singles) also recorded multi-hit games for Henryetta against Vian with two hits each. Kilhoffer added a one-out single in the seventh to her leadoff triple in the sixth for her 2-hit performance.

The final Lady Knight base hit on Wednesday came on a pinch-hit 2-run single by Chloe Swearingen in the seventh.

Other Henryetta baserunners in the road win were Beaver (fielder’s choice), Kassidy Lee (fielder’s choice), Hailey Lewis (walk), Allie Davis (fielder’s choice), Kinley Miller (error), and Maddie Rock (error).

Rex earned the pitching win for the Lady Knights on Wednesday, giving up two runs on three hits, striking out eight, walking two, and hitting a batter in seven innings of work.

— Monday, September 11 Eufaula 10, Henryetta 0

Henryetta:0-0-0-0-0 0 – 2 -1 Eufaula: 2 – 5 – 0 – 1 – 2 10 – 10 – 0 WP: Unknown LP: Allie Davis HR: None — Wednesday, September 13 Henryetta 4, Vian 2

Henryetta:0-0-0-1-0-2-4 7-11-2 Vian: 0-1-0-0-0-1-0 2-3-3 WP: Serenity Rex LP: Unknown HR: Henryetta: Serenity Rex