The Blair Oaks Lady Falcons would have preferred to start every inning batting with two outs.
Blair Oaks scored all of its runs with two outs against the Fox Lady Warriors on Saturday, including Peyton Kusgen's walk-off single to score Mackinnley Hamacher to give the Lady Falcons a 4-3 win in their second pool play game of the Capital City Invitational at 63 Diamonds.
"It was one of those games where I couldn't wait for the next batter to get in there," Blair Oaks coach Sharon Buschjost said. "We were hitting really well, no matter if it was nobody out, one out or two outs.
"We all know two-out hits are huge, especially when they win games."
Blair Oaks entered the bottom of the fifth inning trailing 3-2, knowing the game's time limit would expire shortly. With a runner on first base and two outs, Hamacher and Macyn Wilbers hit back-to-back singles, with Wilbers' hit driving in the tying run.
Kusgen came up next and drove the first pitch she saw into left field. Although the Lady Falcons were down to their final three outs in the fifth inning, three of the six batters that inning came to the plate and swung at the first pitch they saw.
"Before our last half inning started, I told my assistant coach, 'Everything about this says take a strike,'" Buschjost said. "And it was her that kind of talked me out of it and said sometimes that messes with hitters a little bit.
"For whatever reason, you go with your gut instinct sometimes, and I went against the system a little bit."
Fox led 1-0 after half an inning and Blair Oaks tied the game in the third. Hannah Schroeder hit a double to left-center to score Sydney Wilde.
Blair Oaks took the lead in the fourth with an RBI double by Megan Mitchem that landed just inside the foul line in left field.
Entering the last inning, Fox put its first four batters on base and Buschjost brought in Makenna Kliethermes to relieve Mitchem in the circle with the score tied at 2. The Lady Warriors took the lead when Grace Parker scored from third on a wild pitch just four pitches later, but Kliethermes stranded the bases loaded to keep the deficit to one run.
"Makenna is that type of pitcher (to come in) with the bases loaded," Buschjost said. " Even getting out of that with one run, I was proud of the team for that."
Mitchem, Hamacher and Wilbers each went 2-for-3 for Blair Oaks. Mitchem had a single and a double, while Hamacher and Wilbers each had a pair of singles. Mitchem struck out three batters in four-plus innings pitching.
The Lady Falcons also won their other two pool play games, starting the day with a 6-0 win against Lee's Summit North.
Kliethermes and Wilde each went 3-for-3. Schroeder had a two-run double and Mitchem added an RBI single in a three-run third inning. Kliethermes also allowed just one hit and struck out seven batters in four innings.
Blair Oaks finished pool play with a 2-0 win against Camdenton. Kliethermes drove in a run on a fielder's choice in the first inning and Emilee Jones had an RBI single in the second.
Mitchem, Schroeder, Wilbers and Kusgen each had one single. Kliethermes earned the complete-game win, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out 10 batters.
Although there was no bracket play following pool play in the tournament - Friday's games were rained out, changing the format from bracket style to pool play - Blair Oaks was awarded the second-place trophy. Of the four pool play champions, the Lady Falcons surrendered just three runs, trailing only Centralia, the team that was awarded the first-place trophy.
Buschjost and the Lady Falcons will gladly take it. For a team that had played just four games entering Saturday, Blair Oaks will take all the games it can get at this point.
"It felt good to know Jeff City was going to put a lot of manpower into the morning to give teams games," Buschjost said. "I was thrilled to be able to get three games out of it against three quality opponents."
Blair Oaks (5-2) will play at Versailles on Monday in a Tri-County Conference matchup.