CALIFORNIA, Mo. - Makenna Kliethermes has pitched in a state championship game, but Saturday was her first time appearing in a district championship matchup.
The Blair Oaks junior, coming off a perfect game the night before, carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finished with 11 strikeouts. Kliethermes tossed a two-hitter, leading the Lady Falcons to a 6-0 win against the Eugene Lady Eagles to win the Class 2 District 10 Tournament.
"She was nervous coming into it," Blair Oaks coach Sharon Buschjost said. "You have to stop and remind yourself, she's a junior pitching in her first district tournament."
Saturday's win marks the 12th straight district championship for the Blair Oaks softball team.
Blair Oaks and Eugene faced each other during the first week of the regular season, with the Lady Eagles emerging with a 1-0 victory.
The Lady Falcons, however, received the No. 1 seed in the district, reeling off 19 consecutive wins after the loss to Eugene.
"I was hoping it wasn't just words I was telling the team before the game when I said we're a different team now than what we were when we played Eugene (in August)," Buschjost said. "I just felt like offensively we've done very well and maintained it without too many valleys. We've stayed on the peaks.
"They showed everybody just how much better we are today than we were then."
Eugene also didn't face Kliethermes in the first meeting. She struck out six of the first nine hitters she faced.
"I told the girls coming out today we were going to have to shorten up our swings and just put the ball in play," Eugene coach Jess Adrian said.
In the bottom of the first inning, Kliethermes gave Blair Oaks 1-0 lead with a hard hit ground ball that rolled past the shortstop and the left fielder for a double, scoring Macey Stockman.
"It might literally be one or two steps to the left of the left fielder, but it's hit so hard that it gets by," Buschjost said. "That's just how hard she hits the ball."
Kliethermes finished 3-for-3 at the plate, adding singles in the fourth and fifth innings.
The score remained the same until the fourth inning, when Hannah Schroeder reached on an error to score a run. The next batter, Torie Thurston, doubled to left field to plate Schroeder, making the score 3-0.
The next inning, Sydney Wilde singled to left field, scoring two runs.
"They were two-out base hits," Buschjost said. "To put that on top of it, they were huge hits."
Pinch hitter Erin Fennewald grounded out in the sixth to score Schroeder, extending the Blair Oaks lead to six runs.
Kliethermes did not allow a runner to reach second base until the top of the sixth inning. Jodi Polly hit a one-out single to right-center field to break up the no-hitter and Hannah Rader blooped a single into center field. They were stranded on first and second base to end the inning.
"We need to be able to produce, and it just seemed like we couldn't string our hits together today," Adrian said. "We don't face that type of pitching throughout the season."
Kliethermes missed last year's district tournament after suffering an arm injury and didn't return to the pitcher's circle until Blair Oaks' state quarterfinal game. She said getting more breaks this season to rest her arm has her feeling more confident this postseason.
"I know my role on the team, it's to pitch strikes," Kliethermes said. "With me not pitching some of those other games, it helped because I was able to be more focused."
Blair Oaks tallied eight hits in the win. Stockman, Schroeder and Cameron Dulle each had one single.
Eugene ends the season with a 19-5 record. The Lady Eagles will return eight starters next year, including Paige Rademann, who threw 73 pitches in a complete-game effort while striking out one.
"I'm excited about next season," Adrian said. "I have a great group of girls. They are young, but they are eager to learn."
Blair Oaks (25-5) plays next in the Class 2 sectionals Wednesday at Fatima (20-7), with the start time still to be announced. The two teams have met in the sectional round each of the past three seasons, with the Lady Comets winning twice.
Blair Oaks won last year's playoff meeting 4-0 and defeated Fatima earlier this season 7-1 in Westphalia.
"They will be ready for us and we will be ready for them," Buschjost said.