The East Carter Lady Redbirds softball team is Headed Back to The Final Four!!

 The East Carter Lady Redbirds traveled north Monday to take on the Elsberry Lady Indians in Class 2 Quarterfinal action. 

 The Lady Birds were the visiting team on the scoreboard and went down in order in the top of the 1st.  The Lady Indians drew a pair of 2 out walks in the bottom of the inning but left them stranded. 

 In the Lady Birds half of the 2nd, senior Makenna Moore got the first hit of the game, followed by a single by senior Audrey Carter.  But Moore got tied up with the fielder and was called out on a runner's interference. The next two batters would fly out to end the inning.  In the bottom of the 2nd, The Lady Indians were able to get a base runner with a hit batsman, but Moore struck out the next two batters to end the 2nd.  

 Both the Lady Birds and Lady Indians would go down in order in the 3rd. 

The Lady Birds went down in order in their half of the 5th.  The Lady Indians got a leadoff double, but the runner was thrown out with a perfect 7-6-5 relay throw while trying to stretch it into a triple.  The next batter hit a triple in the right center gap giving the Indians their best opportunity to score with a runner on third, and only one out. But Moore had a different idea and left the runner stranded after recording back to back strikeouts. Headed into the 6th inning, the game is still scoreless. 

 The Lady Birds made some noise in the top half of the 6th with a leadoff single by Hailey Brown. Brown steals second and moves to third on a single by Naomi Crowley. With 2 consecutive base hits and runners on the corners with no outs, the Lady Indians make a pitching change. The next batter, Elizabeth Crowley, draws a walk to load the bases.  Rylee O’dell makes the pitcher work and gets a full count pitch that is a called strike three for the first out. Moore steps to the plate and wastes no time; swinging at the first pitch and connecting for a bases clearing double, scoring 3 runs. The Lady Indians went down in order in the bottom of the 6th. The Lady Redbirds are up 3-0 headed into the 7th inning. 

 PJ Gholson gets a single the top 7th but would be stranded.  Moore strikes out the side in the bottom of the 7th to seal the 3-0 victory and send the Lady Redbirds back to the final four! 

 Moore was dominant on the mound striking out 14 and only allowing 2 hits.  Moore also led the Lady Birds at the plate going 3-3 with 3 RBI’s. 

N. Crowley had 2 hits while Carter, Gholson, and Brown each had hits. 

 In this run back to the Class 2 State Championship, Moore and the Lady Birds defense have had 6 consecutive shutouts, not allowing a run since October 4th. Up next for the Lady Birds is Sherwood in the semifinals on Friday, November 1st, at 1:00 at Killian Sports Complex in Springfield.