Lathrop, Mid-Buchanan High School softball both pick up wins in District Semifinals, will face each other for title

LATHROP, Mo. (KQTV) - The Class 2 District 7 Semifinals were on Saturday for high school softball in Lathrop.

In the first game, 1 seed Lathrop defeated 4 seed North Platte 16-6 in 6 innings and the Lady Mules are headed back to the District Championship for the second straight season.

North Platte jumped out to a 3-0 lead, Lathrop then added 7 runs in the bottom of the 2nd to jump up 7-3. The Lady Panthers then pulled within 7-5 in the 3rd inning on a 2 run home-run from sophomore Charlie Hinton. But the Lady Mules didn't let the margin any closer as Lathrop then reeled off 2 runs the next two frames and another 7 run scoring spree in the bottom of the 6th in the win.

Freshman Prestynn Coldren led the way for Lathrop as she finished 3-for-3 at the plate with 2 RBI. Junior Jolene Ashcraft was 1-for-3 with 1 RBI, junior Rheagan Hall was 1-for-4 with 1 RBI and senior Virginia Tech signee Jacie Kassanavoid finished 2-for-3 at the plate.

For North Platte, Hinton finished 3-for-3 with 2 RBI on that home run.

"This year is really special because we're all playing together. It's just really crazy that we've made it back to back two years in a row, said junior Peyton Cobb.

"We kind of struggled to get going there at the beginning, but what I've realized about these girls is that the game is never over when we get behind," said Lathrop head coach Ashley Hutchcraft. "They fought hard and came back, started playing together and having fun, and made it happen."

For the second game, 2 seed Mid-Buchanan shutout 3 seed West Platte, 10-0 in 6 innings.

The Dragons were led by senior Dru Pearson, who was 2-for-3 at the plate with 3 RBI including a 3-run home run in the 1st inning. Junior Sophia Smith finished 2-for-3 with 1 RBI and sophomore Keithley Black was 1-for-3 with 2 RBI.

Junior Paisley Meyer pitched all 6 innings for Mid-Buchanan, finishing with 7 strikeouts and only gave up 3 hits and no runs.

Mid-Buchanan was swept by West Platte themselves in the regular season back on September 10th when the team struggled to hit against West Platte freshman pitcher Shiloh Doran. This time the Lady Dragons were ready as Doran gave up 9 hits and 10 runs in 5 innings pitched and only had 3 strikeouts.

"We did a fantastic job. Adjustments to their pitcher, especially from the last time we played them, we had a lot of rollover ground balls and field pop flies, so we just did a lot of practice on making adjustments in the box, and we kind of knew what she was going to throw us this time," said Mid-Buchanan head coach Regan Nash-Archdekin. "So they just had a lot better approach at the plate."

"Today we had really good energy. We were all together. We played as a team," said Pearson. "We had really good defense. The first time that we played West Platte, we were very down. We had a lot of mental errors and things just kept getting worse, but this game we kept it up and played together as a team."

Mid-Buchanan will now face Lathrop in the Class 2 District 7 Championship for the second straight season. The game will be played on Tuesday, October 20th at 6 pm in Lathrop.