The number one seeded Chillicothe Lady Hornets were competing against the fifth seed Excelsior Springs Lady Tigers in the class three district eight semifinal at Heritage Park in St. Joseph on Thursday night. The Lady Hornets recognized the intensity level it would take to win this matchup.
Chillicothe emerged ready from the opening pitch. In the first inning Landry Marsh had two strikeouts, and the Lady Hornets came to bat in the bottom of the first and a scoreless game. Chillicothe’s bats were on fire, as the Lady Hornets produced three runs on hits by Marsh, Tatum Palmer, Tori Stoner and Ellie Acree to open the scoring 3-0. After blanking the Lady Tigers again in the top of the second, Chillicothe hit the ball even better in the second inning adding four runs to their total with Hayden Hansen and Bryleigh Gillespie leading off to go ahead 7-0.
In the third inning, Excelsior Springs got on the scoreboard with two runs, but in the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Hornets neutralized those runs when Hope Donoho connected on a base hit and Landry Marsh stepped up and delivered a two run home run to put the Lady Hornets ahead 9-2. Excelsior Spring showed some fight by adding three runs in the fifth, but the Lady Hornets gave themselves some cushion in the bottom of the six scoring two runs going into the final inning. Chillicothe’s defense kept the Lady Tigers at bay and the Lady Hornets will move on to the district championship game after an 11-5 semifinal win.
Chillicothe is now 23-5 on the season and will play Savannah, who defeated Lawson in a 14-13 thriller, in the district championship game Saturday in St. Joseph at 11 AM.
