Knights bounce back with 15-0 win over MACCRAY
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TYLER -- There were a lot of things going on when the MACCRAY Wolverines came to town for a matchup with the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights. With a win, the Knights would wrap up their first Camden Conference Championship. They also honored the three Seniors on the team-Whitney Bruns, Sara Hartson, and Madysen Davis.
RTR was coming off a tough loss on Monday to Wabasso, so they wanted to regain some momentum coming into the playoffs. There were some goals to accomplish against a very young MACCRAY team and the Knights took a 15-0 win in 4 innings.
Starting pitcher Kya Alderson took matters into her own hands, striking out the first nine batters she faced on her way to her second no-hitter this season. Greta Meyer was the only MACCRAY batter to reach base. With two outs in the fourth inning, her ground ball to third base was mishandled for an error. That was the only batter to reach base and Alderson struck out the next batter to end the inning.
RTR's runs came in bunches every inning, gathering 10 hits in the game. Whitney Bruns started the first inning by reaching on a passed ball after a strikeout. That was followed by a Madi Burns single, then Laken Baartman drove them both home with a double to left field.
In the second inning, the hit parade continued when Daryssa Cruz singled and went to second on an error by the center fielder. Lily Klumper drew a walk and, after a ground out, Bruns drove in Cruz with a single. Burns then singled home Klumper and Baartman drew a walk. Alderson then cleared the bases with a double to make the score 7-0.
With Alderson cruising on the mound, the RTR offense continued in the third inning. After a strikeout, Klumper singled and Briella Buchert drove her home with a double down the first base line. Bruns walked and, after a flyout, Baartman laced to triple to left-center, narrowly missing her eighth career home run. Still, she drove in Buchert and Bruns to make the RTR lead 10-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Madysen Davis drew a walk and Olivia Lange followed with a single. With one out, Buchert was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Bruns. Bruns coaxed a walk to drive in a run and Burns walked to drive in another. With one out, Alderson reached on an error, allowing Buchert and Bruns to score. Hartson came to the plate and lifted a fly ball to center field that was dropped, allowing Burns to score the 15th and final run of the game.
The Seniors went out in style with Bruns scoring all four times she was up, Burns scoring three runs and Briella Buchert scoring twice for the Knights. "This team is like my second family, with the practices, the bus rides and the games," Davis said. "Knowing what was on the line, there were a few nerves starting the game, but we put those aside and did what we had to do. It was awesome that everyone got to play today, and we had a great time. This team has grown together, and we ended it with a Conference Championship."
"The girls battled hard all year long, and we started out with that rough spring weather, with postponements and moving games around," RTR head coach Darren Baartman said. "It seems like we literally played half the season in the last two weeks. Give credit to the girls, I am really proud of them for the way they have performed this year. It's a great accomplishment for them. When I took this program over a couple of years ago, we kind of had a vision of how we wanted to play. And I knew we had a pitcher for the future [Kya Alderson] and we would try to build around her. We talked about if we can pitch the ball well and field the ball well, we had a chance to be successful. That is what we hung our hat on the last few years, and it has worked for us. A lot of the girls who played this year have been in the program for several years, and they have had a chance to play a lot of softball. You can see the growth the last couple of years, and that's what it takes to be successful."
The RTR team immediately hopped on a bus to travel to Edgerton for a 7 p.m game on Tuesday night.
The Knights (13-2) will play again when they host Murray County Central for their regular-season finale Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
Next season, RTR will move to the Red Rock Conference, so this is the first and last Camden Conference Championship for this team.