Ash Grove Lady Pirates open district tournament with a win

Rust, Long qualify for Class 1 state boys golf tournament
The Ash Grove High School softball team began their 2023 post season play on Friday, May 5, at Fair Grove shutting out Pleasant Hope 4-0 in an opening round Class 2, District 7 tournament game.
The Lady Pirates scored two runs in the third and fourth innings to account for all of their scoring. Chelsey Andrus was 2-4 with two doubles and an RBI, Madison Lutz went 2-4 with a double and two RBI’s and Marissa Andrus finished the game 2-3. Meagan Hawkins got the win, going seven innings, allowing just one hit while striking out 11.
Prior to starting the district tournament, Ash Grove played their final regular season game hosting Mt. Vernon, but losing 8-4 on Tuesday, May 2 to the 32-1 team.
Mt. Vernon led 1-0 after the first inning but the Lady Pirates tied it up at 1-1 in the second inning. The Lady Mt’neers scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 4-1 lead. Ash Grove battled back scoring a single run in the fifth inning and two runs in the sixth inning to tie the game at 4-4. Mt. Vernon scored four more times in the top of the seventh inning to secure the win.
Chelsey Andrus went 2-4, Ashlyn Gerla was 1-4 with an RBI, Jamalynn Atkinson went 2-3 with a home run and an RBI and Marissa Andrus finished 2-3 with an RBI.
“We played a tough Mt. Vernon team very well,” said head coach Austin Tipton. “It was nice to face them right before districts because in order to try to beat them you have to bring your A game. The start of districts went great, we hit the ball well and fielded pretty well too. Hawkins threw a gem for us.”
Ash Grove is now 17-11 on the season and was scheduled to continue their district tournament in Fair Grove on Monday against Skyline. The championship game was scheduled for yesterday.

Golf
The Ash Grove High School boys’ golf team traveled to Joplin for their Class 1, District 3 match on Friday, May 5, and finished third with a team score of 370. Asher Rust finished third overall with an 81 and Brock Long finished 13th with a 90 to qualify for the Class 1 state tournament on May 15-16 in Columbia.

Baseball
In baseball, the Pirates played four games last week and didn’t allow a single run in any of them.
The Pirates traveled to Jasper on Monday, May 8, and won 5-0; they hosted Ava on Saturday, May 6, and won 15-0. Prior to that they traveled to Pleasant Hope on Thursday, May 4, and won 13-0 and they started the week by traveling to Lockwood on Tuesday, May 2, winning 11-0.
The Pirates are currently the No. 1 ranked team in Class 2 and have a record of 19-0, in fact, Ash Grove is the only undefeated ranked team in the state.
The Pirates are now off until May 15, when they will play in the semifinals of the Class 2, District 12 tournament in Miller. Ash Grove is the top seed, followed by Marion C. Early, Miller, Jasper, Pierce City and College Heights Christian. The tournament is scheduled to begin this Friday, but the top two seeds get byes, so Ash grove will play the winner of the Jasper/Pierce City contest. The championship game is scheduled for Tuesday, May 16.