Willard baseball wins Class 5, District 12 title, headed for sectional play

The Willard High School baseball team continues to roll as they knocked off both Raymore-Peculiar and Lee’s Summit West to win the Class 5, District 12 title last week in Lee’s Summit.
Willard took on Lee’s Summit West in the district championship game on Wednesday, May 15, and came home with a 9-2 win.
The Tigers scored two runs in the first inning; three runs in the fifth inning and four runs in the sixth inning. Lee’s Summit scored their two runs in the seventh inning.
Grant Harris went 1-3 with a double, a run scored and three RBI’s; Tyler Harre was 2-3 with a double and four RBI’s and Ethan Thompson finished the game 1-3 with a double and two runs scored.
Willard opened the dis- trict tournament with a 4-1 win on Tuesday, May 14 over Raymore-Peculiar.
Willard scored a run in the second inning and three runs in the fourth inning. Raymore-Peculiar scored their lone run in the third inning.
Thompson went 2-3 with a double and two RBI’s and Garrett Rice was 2-3 in the game.
Willard was scheduled to travel to Webb City on Tuesday night to take on the Cardinals in the sectional round of the tournament. Willard defeated Webb City on April 16, 11-1. The quarter final round would be played on Thursday.
Soccer
In girls soccer, the Lady Tigers saw their season come to an end in the championship game of the Class 3,
District 11 tournament in Springfield after losing to Glendale 5-1 on Thursday, May 16. Jackie Pence scored Willard’s only goal of the game.
“The game was tighter than the score indicates,” said head coach Tim Magee. “We came out very passive and Glendale jumped on us quickly. At the half we were down 3-0 but came out in the second half with more energy and confidence and cut the lead to 3-1 on a goal by Pence and almost cut it to 3-2 on a couple of other good looks and good shots but just couldn’t put it in the back of the net. “
Magee was happy with his team’s effort, however.
“The girls can be very proud of how they faced an uphill battle at half yet re- fused to back down, almost getting to the top of that hill. That second half was a good
ending to a good season, we went out with our boots on.” The Lady Tigers reached the championship game by defeating Parkview 3-2 on Tuesday, May 14. Emily Oedewalt had two goals in the win and Jada Holloman
added a goal. “It was an exciting game
from start to finish,” said Magee. “We lost to them just a week earlier in OT by the same score so to avenge that loss in the district tourna- ment was the cherry on top. We thoroughly outplayed them the first half but just couldn’t break away on the scoreboard. The second half they outplayed us but they couldn’t ever take the lead. Oedewaldt converted a free kick just outside the box to put us up 3-2 and we were able to hang on for the win.”
Willard ends their season with a 14-10 record.