Oran reaches district championship game

~ The Eagles beat Chaffee 6-1 and will play for the title today

ORAN -- The Oran softball team allowed base runners in all seven innings in their Class 1 District 1 semifinal game Thursday with Chaffee, but the Eagles found a way to get out of jams, advancing to play Naylor for the championship with a 6-1 victory.

"We played pretty well," Oran's Courtney Scheeter said. "We had good defensive plays when we needed them and we came out hitting early on."

Oran was able to stop the Lady Devils at two key points in the game with 6-4-3 inning-ending double plays.

The first came in the third inning when the Lady Devils had runners on first and third after plating leadoff hitter Adrienne Eichhorn. Oran shortstop Abbey Anderson was able to turn a hard-hit ball by Chaffee's Maria Smith into a double play to end the threat.

The second came in the sixth after the Lady Devil's started the inning with a single and a strikeout.

"I don't think we've had any 6-4-3 double plays all season, and then we get two here in the semifinals," Oran coach Sara Heisserer said. "I know every team practices it, but we've really been harping on it, knowing that it will be a key [in the postseason]."

Oran got production from both the top and bottom of the order as leadoff hitter Molly McConnell led off the game by reaching on an error. After making her way to third, she scored on a passed ball to the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

Oran's No. 7 and 8 hitters, Morgan Todt and Jamie Kern, opened the second inning with back-to-back hits. Todt's courtesy runner Laci Glastetter and Kern came around to score for a 3-0 lead.

The Eagles locked up the game with a three-run rally in the fourth, capitalizing on two hits and a couple of Chaffee errors. Shelbie Seyer and McConnell crossed the plate on an error by Chaffee's second baseman before a sacrifice fly to left by Halle Woodfin scored Anderson for a 6-0 lead.

Following the three-run rally, Oran got Chaffee to strand two runners in the fifth, then turned a double play in the sixth.

Chaffee put two of its first three batters on base in the seventh, but Todt retired the next two Red Devils on a pup up and a groundout to end the gam.

"We played as a team and got everybody's confidence up," Anderson said. "We just played really well today."

Anderson led Oran with three hits as the Eagles finished with nine hits overall.

Oran was led by Anderson's three hits against the Lady Devils.

Stevie Schrum went 2 for 3 for Chaffee, which had five hits.

"To be honest with you, the scoreboard may not show it, but this is one of the best games we played all-around all year," Chaffee coach Shawn Powderly said. "We made some plays on defense and we had plenty of base runners.

"The problem was we ran into an extremely hot team. They had good pitching and had some clutch hits. On defense, they flat made some plays today. We hit some balls very hard, well-placed balls, but they came in and had diving catches and everything else."

Oran will face Naylor in today's 4 p.m. championship game. Top-seeded Naylor defeated Neelyville 5-1 win in the other semifinal.

Naylor defeated Oran 4-2 in last year's district semifinals, then beat the Eagles by one run this year during the regular season.

"I think we need to come out confident knowing we can hit off their pitcher," Heisserer said. "We can't go in chasing pitches."

Oran 6, Chaffee 1

Chaffee 001 000 0 -- 1 5 4

Oran 120 300 0 -- 6 9 5

WP -- Morgan Todt. LP -- Montana Estes. 3B -- Abbey Anderson (O). 2B -- Hannah Bedwell (C), Stevie Schrum (C), Todt (O). Multiple hits -- Oran: Anderson 3-3. Chaffee: Schrum 2-3.