Willard Middle School Softball

New season… New coach… a new team on the schedule…

It all starts Tuesday, February 22, at 2:45.  Make sure you have your insurance paperwork and your physical on file. We will have tryouts on Tues, Wed, and Thursday.  Make sure to be prepared for inside or outside each day.  Listen for announcements and we will try to get the message about whether we will be inside one of the gyms or outside at the field.  Good luck!

We will be starting the picnic and eating at 5pm instead of at 6pm. This way, those who need to get to church can still come.

Hello! Our end of the season picnic will be on Wednesday May 19 at 5pm. We will be having it outside at the softball field, so bring your lawn chairs! There has been an announcement at school for the girls to sign up how many people from their family will be attending, however I only have half the team signed up. Please confirm that your family is coming if your daughter has not yet contacted me or signed up. You may call me at 816-645-4249 or email me at 519267@sbuniv.edu . Here is the information for the evening:

1. We are having chicken strips catered in and the cost will be $5.00 per player. This will cover the cost of your family. Below I have posted what you are being asked to bring to go with our chicken strips.
2. We will be playing kickball on the field, so if the girls would like to participate they may dress appropriately.
3. Please bring your uniform with you to turn in.

Side Dish or snack food
________________________
Mariah
Tori Jones
Olivia
Katie
Allison
Miki
Kylie
Courtney Dense

Dessert dish, cookies, brownies, etc.
_____________________________
Tori Stallings
Breanna Jeffries
Courtney Stilwell
Sarah
Tess
Tessa

Chips
_________________
Michaela
Haley & Jordan
Tori Thomas
Aubrey Clay
Carly
Brianna Battles

Other
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Jelyne- Plates, cups

Maddi-Napkins, utensils

Here are the final totals for the A team.  We finished 9-6, 5-2 in conference games and 4-4 in tournaments.

Final batting averages and pitching totals

The A team season ended in tough fashion Saturday evening with a loss to Buffalo.  The loss put their record at a respectable 9-6, a big improvement over last year’s inaugural season.  We dropped a 3-0 decision to Ozark – probably their closest game of the year.  Then we came from behind against Nixa and Branson for wins before suffering the loss to Buffalo.  Here are the game by game recaps.

Game 1 vs Ozark

Game 2 vs Branson

Game 3 vs Nixa

Game 4 vs Buffalo

We dropped both games to Ozark on Tuesday, April 27.  The loss ended the B team season with a record of 4-6.  Here is a recap of the A game:

A Game play-by-play

The Nixa game was rained out last Friday and will not be rescheduled.  It was cold and miserable getting caught out in a heavy rain storm, but the trip by CiCi’s was fun.  We had an opening on Wednesday but it looks like Nixa can’t play that day.  Teams seldom schedule anything past the final tournament which is this weekend.  So it looks like the final game for the B team players will be against Ozark tonight.

We are still looking at the possibility of going to an MSU, Evangel, or Drury softball game.  They are winding down their season as well.  All of them play Wed afternoon, and the bears also play this weekend.  If you have never been to a college softball game it is worth attending.  They just play at such a high level, it is fun to see such highly skilled players.

Buffalo jumped on us early with a hit and a pair of errors in the first inning but that was their only hit of the night.  The A team came back with a run in the bottom of the first, and then scored 3 in the bottom of the fourth on hits by Stewart, Andrus, Stallings, and Stilwell.  It was an exciting game.  The win pushed their record to 7-3.  The B team dropped the nightcap bringing their record to 4-5.

First Game play-by-play

The B team won two and lost one on Saturday to take 2nd place in the Tournament.  They started the day with a loss to Ozark, but came back to defeat Branson and later Nixa to capture 2nd place.  Side note: Who knew Breanna was a pitcher?

We won a pair of home games against Nixa on Thursday.  The A team won 9-0 as they allowed no hits to the Nixa batters.  The B team came from behind for an exciting win in the 5th inning, 11-10.

First Game play-by-play