Narrow loss closes out Henryetta’s 2023 fastpitch campaign

The Henryetta Lady Knight fastpitch softball team saw their bid for a state tournament berth in 2023 end last Thursday with an 8-6 loss to the Prague Lady Red Devils.

The narrow defeat brings the Lady Knights’ 2023 campaign to a close with the Henryetta squad sporting a 23-10 record, which included winning the District 3A-8 championship.

In last week’s Class 3A, Region 15, regional tournament in Henryetta, the host Lady Knights earned a first-round bye, then began their postseason journey against Prague, who handed the Westville Lady Yellowjackets a 14-2 defeat in last Wednesday’s tournament opener.

The Henryetta squad found themselves in a ‘must win’ situation after the semifinal contest with Prague after the Lady Knights were on the losing end of a 10-0 decision.

The Henryetta ladies rebounded from the shutout loss with a 6-1 victory over Westville in last Thursday’s loser’s bracket finals, ending the Lady Yellowjackets season and earning a rematch with the Lady Red Devils.

Needing to defeat Prague twice last Thursday, the Lady Knights gave it all they had in the first contest, but wound up on the short end of an 8-6 outcome, ending Henryetta’s season and dreams of a state championship.

In last Wednesday’s semifinal battle with Prague, the Lady Knights were held to just one base hit – a 2-out single in the first by Serenity Rex.

The other Henryetta hitters to reach base in the shutout loss were Shelby Kilhoffer (walk), Ailanee Hicks (walk), Kinley Miller (walk), Allie Davis (fielder’s choice), McKayla Greenhaw (error), and Kassidy Lee (error).

Prague opened the scoring with five runs in the bottom of the first, then added a run in the second for a 6-0 advantage. The visitors tacked on two runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to end the game on the run rule, 10-0.

Rex was saddled with the pitching loss for Henryetta, allowing five runs on three hits with two walks, one strikeout, and two hit batters in just twothirds of an inning of work.

Davis worked the final five innings in relief for the Lady Knights, giving up five runs on eight hits with three strikeouts.

In last Thursday’s elimination game against Westville, the Lady Knights opened the scoring with three runs in the home half of the second, then added a run in the third and two more in the fourth for a 6-0 advantage.

Westville tallied its lone run in the top of the seventh to award the host Henryetta squad the season-saving 6-1 victory. Allie Davis went the distance in the circle for Henryetta to earn the pitching win. Davis allowed one run on eight hits, striking out three and walking one in seven innings of work.

The Lady Knight offense was led by the quartet of Davis (2 for 3, single, doube, RBI), Shelby Kilhoffer (2 for 4, 2 singles), Serenity Rex (2 for 4, 2 singles, RBI), and Winter Beaver (2 for 3, 2 singles) with two hits apiece.

The final two Henryetta base hits in the win against Westville came on an RBI single by McKayla Greenhaw and a 2-run single by Maddie Rock.

Other baserunners for the Lady Knights in the elimination contest were Greenhaw (fielder’s choice), Ailanee Hicks (walk), and Kinley Miller (walk, error, fielder’s choice).

Hicks drove in the lone Henryetta run in the third with an RBI sacrifice fly.

In last Thursday’s season-ending loss to Prague, the Lady Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings of action with a run in each of the first two frames.

Prague took over the lead at 4-2 with four runs in the top of the third, then added a run in the fourth, two in the fifth, and a run in the sixth for an 8-2 advantage.

The Lady Knights made it an 8-6 contest with four runs in the last of the sixth, but were unable to complete the comeback win in their final at-bat of regulation, being held without any runs in the bottom of the seventh to suffer the season-ending 8-6 defeat.

The top hitters for Henryetta in the loss were McKayla Greenhaw (2 for 5, single, double, RBI), Shelby Kilhoffer (2 for 3, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs), and Ailanee Hicks (2 for 2, single, double, 2 RBIs) with two hits apiece. Two of Kilhoffer’s 3 RBIs came on an RBI sacrifice fly in the first and an RBI groundout in the sixth.

The other three Lady Knight base hits last Thursday against Prague came on singles by Allie Davis, Kinley Miller, and Maddie Rock.

Other Henryetta baserunners in the season-ending setback were Greenhaw (fielder’s choice), Hicks (2 walks), Miller (walk), Rock (walk), Serenity Rex (walk), Kassidy Lee (2 walks), and Winter Beaver (walk, fielder’s choice).

Rex was saddled with the pitching loss for Henryetta, giving up five runs on six hits with one walk and two strikeouts in two and two-third innings of work.

Davis worked the first four and one-third innings in the circle for the Lady Knights, allowing three runs on five hits, while hitting two batters.

— Class 3A Regional Tournament Semifinals

Prague 10, Henryetta 0

Henryetta:0-0-0-0-0-0 0 – 1 -5 Prague: 5-1-0-0-2-2 10-11-2 WP: Unknown LP: Serenity Rex HR: None — Loser’s Bracket Finals Henryetta 6, Westville 1

Westville:0-0-0-0-0-0-1 1-8-2 Henryetta:0-3-1-2-0-0-x 6-10-1 WP: Allie Davis LP: Unknown HR: None — Championship

Prague 8, Henryetta 6

Prague: 0-0-4-1-2-1-0 8-11-0 Henryetta:1-1-0-0-0-4-0 6-9-3 WP: Unknown LP: Serenity Rex HR: None