The Chillicothe Lady Hornets softball team earned the number 1 seed in the Class 3 District 8 tournament in part because of their 21-5 record and 7-0 mark in the MEC. The Lady Hornets faced a conference foe in their district opening game in St. Joseph against the Maryville Spoofhounds. Chillicothe defeated Maryville 5-0 in the regular season meeting between these two teams but Coach Rucker and his team were ready to turn up the intensity as the postseason began.
The Lady Hornets began by keeping Maryville off the scoreboard in the top of the first and then provided an offensive explosion when it was their turn to bat. Chillicothe scored 8 runs in the bottom of the first, forcing Maryville to make a change at pitcher in the process. Hope Donoho got the scoring started, ultimately scoring twice in the inning. Chillicothe also received contributions from Landry Marsh, Maicee Albrecht, Ellie Acree, Charley Peniston, Bryleigh Gillespie, Molly Kennebeck and Abby Marshall to break open an early 8-0 advantage.
The next several inning all looked similar for Chillicothe as they added a pair of runs in each the 2nd, 3rd and 4th to win 14-0 in just 4.5 innings. Including an RBI from Hayden Hansen, and hits from Tatum Palmer and Tori Stoner, the entire starting lineup made an impact for the Lady Hornets.
Landry Marsh started pitching for Chillicothe and contributed 3 excellent innings before Hope Donoho took over in the circle in the final two frames to help insure the shutout.
Following the 14-0 win, the Lady Hornets will move on to Thursday’s semifinal matchup at Heritage Park in St. Joseph where they will take on 5th seed Excelsior Springs. The Lady Tigers took down #4 Benton 9-1 to advance to the semifinal round. Chillicothe and Excelsior Springs will meet at 5pm Thursday with a spot in the Class 3 District 8 championship on the line.
