Lady Demon softball wins Regionals, advance to first State Tournament

Garden City, KS(westernkansasnews.com) The Dodge City Lady Demons softball team won the Regional Championship Wednesday beating West 15-0 and Hutchinson 7-6.

Game one

Dodge City jumped on West(5-16) early scoring nine runs in the first inning, highlighted by a two run double by Grace Ruehle and two run triple by Shalyn Turner. The Lady Demons would six runs in the second including a three run homerun by Ruehle(6) and a two run double by Turner. The game was ended after the top of the third for run rule.

Raemie Lopp(8-3) got the win pitching three innings with five strikeouts and one hit allowed. The seniors Ruehle and Turner led the way at the plate, Ruehle was 2-2 with a homerun, double and five RBI. Turner was 2-3 with a triple, double and four RBI.

Game two

In the second semifinal Garden City(15-6, 6-2) was upset by Hutchinson 4-2. The Lady Salthawks struck first with a solo homerun by Audrianna Bender in the top of the second. Ally Lusk would hit another solo homerun in the top of the fifth to make it 2-0. In the bottom half the Lady Buffaloes loaded the bases then Erykah Foster drew a walk to make it 2-1. Lusk came in to pitch for Teegan Krol and groundouts from Laura Farmer and Taylor Terpstra to end the inning. Garden City then tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Ryleigh Whitehurst. In the top of the seventh Hutchinson responded with an RBI single by Krol and an RBI sac-fly by Aspyn Conner to make it 4-2.

Championship Game

Hutchinson(6-16) struck first with an RBI single by Krol in the top of the first. Dodge responded in the bottom half when Ruehle reached on an error by right fielder Giselle Graciano that tied the game at 1.  The game remained tied until the fifth inning when Peyton Allen put Hutch ahead with an RBI double. The Lady Salthawks would add to their lead in the sixth  when the Lady Demons committed three errors followed by an RBI double by Krol and a two run single by Conner to make it 6-1. Then in the bottom half Dodge City rallied, starting with Madison Armstrong reaching on an error by second baseman Alexia Kendell, Madeline Kalsheur then drew a walk and Jessica Olivarez delivered an RBI sac-fly to make it 6-2. Zabree Rodriguez and Caroline Williams delivered back to back singles followed by an RBI single by Elise Helfrich to cut it to 6-3. With the bases loaded Shalyn Turner reached on a single scoring run and cleared the bases after two errors giving the Lady Demons a 7-6 lead. In the top of the seventh Raemie Lopp retired the first three batters to end the game and send Dodge City to their first ever State Tournament.

Raemie Lopp(9-3) got the win pitching the last 2.1 innings allowing four runs on two hits and striking out four. Raegan Lopp pitched the first 4.2 innings surrendering two runs on five hits and seven strikeouts.

The Lady Demons advance to the 6A State Tournament at Lawrence-Arrocha Ballpark at Rock Chalk Park.