YC softball sweeps past Eureka

Yates Center High's softball team has won a season-high five straight as the regular season winds down. The wildcats outscored Eureka 18-7 and 11-9 to improve to 8-12 on the year.

Sports

May 3, 2024 - 2:46 PM

Yates Center High's Kinley Morrison pitches in a game earlier this season. Photo by Richard Luken

EUREKA — An up-and-down year on the diamond is ending on an upswing as Yates Center High’s softball team nears the postseason.

The Wildcats extended their winning streak to five Thursday by sweeping past host Eureka 18-7 and 11-9.

Yates Center improves to 8-12 with the victories, with a doubleheader Monday at Uniontown to wrap up the regular season.

The Wildcats hold the seventh seed in their Class 2-1A regional bracket.

Lauren McConaghie hit an RBI double and Kinley Morrison drove in a run with a single before an error with the bases loaded led to three more runs as Yates Center burst out of the gates with a 5-0 lead.

Eureka stayed within shouting distance, scoring two runs apiece in the first, second and fourth innings, but Yates Center ended with a wallop. Avery Eakin drove in two runs with a single as part of a three-run sixth inning. Peyton Petit followed with a two-run double to spearhead a five-run seventh inning to seal the win.

Eakin went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, Petit and Mylin Tidd both had a single and double, while Morrison singled twice. McConaghie had a double. Jaycie Randall, Cummings, Kamdyn Trahan and Aubrey Chambers all had singles.

Eakin pitched a complete game, striking out 11 and allowing 11 hits over seven innings.

CUMMINGS and Eakin hit RBI singles in the top of the eighth inning in Game 2 to break a 9-9 deadlock, capping a wild finish in which both teams scored four runs in the seventh.

Yates Center led 4-1 after 3 ½ innings before Eureka rallied to knot the score at 5-5 after six.

A pair of Tornado fielding errors preceded Jayda Rice’s RBI single as Yates Center took a 9-5 lead in its half of the seventh. But a single and two walks, followed by an error and RBI ground-out allowed the Tornadoes to pull back even.

McConaghie and Morrison both had a single and double to lead the Wildcat offense. Randall and Eakin both had three singles. Cummings singled twice. Tidd, Rice and Petit added one hit apiece.

Morrison pitched eight innings for Yates Center, striking out 16 and allowing six hits.

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