BY JASON PEAKE
Stacy Tyndall was supposed to bunt.
She swung away instead.
Tyndall's key two-run single propelled Webb City to a 4-0 victory over Nixa on Thursday afternoon in Central Ozark Conference softball action.
"It felt really nice to come through for the team," Tyndall said. "We're playing pretty well right now, and it was a nice win for us."
The Cardinals improved to 14-3 with the win.
"It's a great start to the season," Webb City coach Shauna Friend said. "All three of our losses were close losses to solid competition. We're off to a good start and we just want to keep it rolling."
The pitcher's duel was scoreless when the Cardinals came to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Webb City's Kaia Storm and Karson Culver hit backto- back singles to start the frame before Haidyn Berry moved the runners over with a sacrifice bunt.
That brought up Tyndall, a junior right fielder.
Tyndall showed bunt, but then made contact in what looked like an extended check swing, lifting a short fly ball near second base that found a hole in the Nixa defense. Both runners charged home.
"I was supposed to squeeze, but I saw the defense coming up really quick, so I decided to hit it," Tyndall said. "I pretended like I was bunting and hit it over the pitcher's head. It worked out."
"Stacy did a great job of just pushing it out there," Friend said. "We got a couple of runs out of it."
Later in the inning, Webb City added a pair of insurance runs on run-scoring singles from Keira Jackson and Renae Gillmore for a four-run cushion.
"It took us awhile to get going, but we had a good fourth inning," Friend said. "We had good execution. Sometimes you just have to manufacture some runs. We got the job done by playing small ball."
The run support was more than enough for Berry.
A sophomore righthander, Berry earned the complete game victory, scattering
five hits, walking none and striking out three.
"Haidyn had an excellent game," Friend said. "She was hitting her spots and she kept them off-balance."
Nixa threatened in the third,as Emma Vincentdoubled and Kat Mitchell singled with one out. But Berry maneuvered out of trouble by striking out both Katie Faulk and Sam Aring.
The Eagles had two runners on with two outs in the sixth, but Berry induced an inning-ending fly ball.
"We had good composure when they had runners on and we made the plays we needed to make to get out of the situation," Friend said.
Webb City had nine hits, with seven different players contributing. Quincie Capron and Kaia Storm had two hits apiece for the Cardinals, who travel to Neosho at 5 on Tuesday.
Joplin Globe 9/20/2018 (Used by permission)