Pirates baseball loses first two games of the season, Ash Grove softball splits two games last week

The Ash Grove High School baseball team played three games last week, losing two of them in the process.

The Pirates traveled to Monett on Friday, April 17 but came home with a 1-0 loss to the Cubs.

Saxton Kinney pitched a masterful game for Ash Grove, allowing just one earned run and three hits over six and a third innings, walking three and striking out five. Kyler Reece was 1-3 and Alex Acosta had the Pirates only other hit in the game.

Ash Grove hosted Conway on Tuesday, April 14 and came away with a 7-1 victory over the Bears.

It was a pitchers’ duel for the first three and a half innings, as neither team could get any offense started. The Pirates finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead. Ash grove would three more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to increase their lead to 7-0. Conway scored their only run in the top of the seventh inning.

Ty Messley was 2-4 with a double, a run scored and three RBIs, Sawyer Burks went 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI, and Hunter Heffernon finished the game 1-3 with an RBI. Jaden Shorter got the win, going five and two thirds of an inning, allowing no runs on three hits with four walks and 11 strikeouts.

The Pirates suffered their first loss of the season when they traveled to Diamond on Monday, April 13 losing the game 13-5.

Ash Grove led 3-0 after the top of the first inning, but Diamond answered back with four runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-3 lead. The Pirates tied it 4-4 after scoring a run in the top of the fifth inning but once again the Wildcats came back, scoring two run to retake the lead 6-4. Diamond added another seven runs in the sixth inning to close out the scoring for the Wildcats.

Toby Barnes went 1-3 with two RBIs and Heffernon finished up 1-3 with an RBI.

The Pirates are 14-2 on the season and were scheduled to play against Dadeville on Monday and Stockton last night before heading to Marionville tomorrow night and Mt. Vernon on Friday night.

Softball

The Lady Pirates softball team hosted Marionville on Tuesday and defeated the Comets 9-3.

Ash Grove scored three runs in each of the first, second and sixth innings, while Marionville scored one run in the fifth inning and two runs in the seventh inning.

Brooklyn Rowden went 1-4 with a triple and two RBIs, Brooke Nicholson was 2-3 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs and Oakley Dowling finished 1-2 with two runs scored and an RBI.

On Monday night, the Lady Pirates hosted Marion C. Early and lost 2-1.

Brooke Nicholson pitched extremely well in the game for Ash Grove, allowing just two earned runs on three hits, over seven innings. She also walked five and struck out two in the contest. Dowling was 1-3 with a run scored in the game.

Ash Grove is now 8-7 on the season and were scheduled to play against Pierce City last night before traveling to Class 2, eighth ranked Miller tonight, Lockwood tomorrow night and Marionville on Saturday to compete in the Shelby Estep Memorial Tournament.