WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Last year's meeting between the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons and the Helias Lady Crusaders produced one hit between the two teams, the product of a pitchers' duel.
There were a few more hits in Tuesday night's rematch, but one hit set the tone.
Hannah Schroeder hit a two-run inside-the-park home run in the first inning, which proved to be enough run support for Blair Oaks to win 3-1 at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
"I don't know if I've ever seen an inside-the-park home run with a 200-foot fence," Blair Oaks coach Sharon Buschjost said.
Schroeder stepped to the plate with two outs and Kayla Jones on second base in the opening inning. With a full count, she lifted a deep fly ball drifting toward the right-field corner.
Emily Harrison got a glove on the ball, but it fell to the ground inside the fence. Meanwhile, Harrison's momentum carried her through the temporary fence, and Schroeder continued to circle the bases.
"I knew it wasn't going out," Schroeder said. "It looked like it was going to hit the fence, bounce right to (Williams) and I was only going to get a single.
"I hit it to the exact right place, I guess."
Schroeder slid home ahead of the relay throw to give Blair Oaks a 2-0 lead.
"I wasn't going to stop waving my arm at third," Buschjost said of her decision to send Schroeder home.
Helias answered with its only run in the top of the second. Sophia Carr reached on an error and then stole second base. Madisyn Hood singled into left field to score Carr, cutting the Blair Oaks lead to 2-1.
The next three innings were a pitchers' duel between Blair Oaks' Makenna Kliethermes and Helias' Lauren Howell.
Kliethermes finished with 10 strikeouts and benefited from a pair of outs Helias made on the basepaths to end the second and third innings.
Buschjost emphasized keeping walks to a minimum this season for Kliethermes, wanting three or fewer walks a game. Kliethermes finished with three walks Tuesday.
"She pitched a fantastic game tonight," Buschjost said of Kliethermes. " It's one of the best games I've seen her throw."
Howell, who no-hit Blair Oaks last season, struck out seven in the loss. She scattered six hits and walked one.
"It was a really tough matchup. Lauren Howell is such a great pitcher and hitter," Kliethermes said. "She's just a force to be reckoned with. We're both great teams and it's just going to be a dogfight."
With hits being hard to come by - through five innings, Blair Oaks had three hits to Helias' one - it came down to small-ball execution.
Blair Oaks put a checkmark in that column to get its third run.
Torie Thurston entered the game as a pinch hitter with runners on first and third base and one out in the bottom of the sixth. Thurston bunted the ball toward the right side of the infield and pinch runner Cameron Dulle slid home around the tag of Helias catcher Riley Heckenkamp to extend the lead to 3-1.
"Both of those girls were hoping to get their name in the starting lineup," Buschjost said of Thurston and Dulle. "They're both seniors, but I told them to be ready at any given time."
Helias only had one successful bunt attempt, a sacrifice by Hood to advance a runner to second base in the fifth.
"We have to do a better job of putting the ball in play and getting bunts down," Helias coach Dan Campbell said. "We tried to bunt for a hit several times and weren't successful. It was one of those nights where we couldn't execute."
Howell had Helias' other hit, a leadoff single in the seventh. Kliethermes benefited from a pair of fielder's choices to keep the tying run from getting on base.
The Lady Falcons had five singles, one each by Jones, Kliethermes, Sydney Wilde, Nicole Bryan and Peyton Kusgen, in addition to Schroeder's home run.
Both teams are back in action Friday in the Capital City Invitational at 63 Diamonds. Helias (9-1) will open against DeSoto at 3:45 p.m., while Blair Oaks (3-2) will take on North Callaway in the first round at 2 p.m.
"The two wins last week helped, but this game will help us more," said Buschjost, whose team has won three straight after starting 0-2. "Scoring 20 runs in two consecutive games was good for the offense and good for the mindset, but coming out here in what we knew would be the kind of game we thought it might be, and getting a win against Helias, is a good boost for our confidence."
Blair Oaks won the JV game 10-5 to improve to 7-0. Natatlie Otto went 3-for-3, while Ellie Kliethermes, Kathleen Groner and Kaitlyn Kolb each had two hits for the Lady Falcons. Groner added two RBI.