2 weeks Ago By By Warren Mayes, Special to the Post-Dispatch
WILDWOOD — What Lafayette junior Riley Mulligan wanted she got. "Actually, I might have said it out loud but in my head, I was saying the ball's coming to me," Mulligan said. "I wanted that ball so bad.
I was still very nervous; I'm not going to lie but I trusted myself. "I've probably made that play 100 times in practice and millions of times before that. I broke it down.
See the ball. Get the ball and make the throw." She did.
Like a vacuum cleaner, Mulligan scooped up a sharp grounder and she threw a bullet to first baseman Nora Oswald to end the game. Besides stellar defense, Mulligan also hit a run-scoring double, sparking the Lancers to a hard-fought 4-1 victory over the Jackson Indians (28-9) in a Class 5 quarterfinal softball game. "Riley is a dog," Lafayette coach Hope Swaney said.
"I mean, I wouldn't trust anybody else at shortstop at all. She is both offensively and defensively a great player. She's there.
She's so good." The Lancers (28-5) will spend Halloween playing the Liberty North Eagles at 1 p.m.
Thursday at the Killian Softball Complex in Springfield. It is Lafayette's first trip to the final four in 17 years. Liberty North (25-9) defeated Raymore-Peculiar 5-2 in its quarterfinal game.
"I know our competition at state will be good, but our team can do anything it puts its mind to," Mulligan said. "We've been successful this season. Everybody believes.
" Defensive gems In the seventh, Lafayette pitcher Abby Carr gave up a leadoff walk to Bella Rose, Jackson's No. 8 hitter. After a strikeout, Carr walked leadoff hitter Josey Sauerbrunn.
Ashlyn Dawes hit a sharp grounder to short, which Mulligan dove and stopped. She alertly got up and threw to third to force Rose for the second out. "That's a run if it gets through," Mulligan said.
"I knew we needed an out. I thought in my head if the ball goes to my right, I'm getting the out at third and if it's up the middle, I'm going to roll it. "A hard ball was hit, and I slid down to get my eyes behind it.
It took a weird hop there, but I was able to get and I was able to shove the ball to third. We needed that out." Carr agreed.
"It could have been way different," Carr said. "Riley can do it all. She can hit and she play defense.
" Jackson coach Shawn Wilding was impressed with Mulligan. "The shortstop there, that's making a play," Wilding said. "In the bottom of the seventh, that ball gets through there, they're in trouble.
It starts snowballing for them." Miley Conklin slapped a hard grounder to short. Mulligan fielded it clear and fired the ball to first for the final out.
"I consider myself more of a defensive player as that's always been my forte," Mulligan said. "I try to step up to the plate and hit whenever I can. I've found success hitting.
I love hitting. "But since I've been young, I've always loved the glove, the dirt and the field." Swaney has complete confidence in Mulligan.
"When the ball is hit to Riley, there's no question about it," Swaney said. "She's locked in. She's a wall.
The ball isn't getting past her." Sydney and Sidney pace attack Lancers junior catcher Sydney Berger went 3-for-4 with a with a double. She drove in two runs.
"It doesn't get any better," Berger said. "I'm kind of on top of the world right now." Lafayette sophomore third baseman Sidney Vogt also went 3-for-4 with a double.
Vogt drove in a run. "She made that error, but she came back from it," Swaney said. "She showed what she can do.
" Carr tough in first inning Jackson's Sauerbrunn hit a slow roller back to Carr, who mishandled the ball. Dawes then singled to right. "I think there were some nerves there in the beginning," Swaney said.
"We all knew after that she'd be fine." Carr composed herself and struck out the side to escape any danger. "I had to stay calm, cool and collected there," Carr said.
"I just overran that grounder." Carr, who has a verbal commitment to Missouri, picked up the complete game victory to run her season record to 20-0. It was her 10th complete game.
She recorded 10 strikeouts and gave up four hits. "That was fun," Carr said. "It's been our goal to go to state.
" Wilding knew Carr would be difficult to hit. "Abby Carr is outstanding," Wilding said. "You can see why Mizzou wants her.
She was on her game. You can prepare in four days, and then you go in and battle. "Carr is good.
She's nasty. She got the best of us there. We could have bunted but had our No.
3 and 4 hitters up. Dominant pitchers have two runners get on and they can get out of it. She's very effective.
" Lancers go up 2-0 Lafayette, the visiting team in the game on its home field, took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. With two outs, Carr doubled to right field. Junior Maddie Boes came in to run for her.
Mulligan smacked a 3-2 offering off losing pitcher Ashlyn Dawes for a double off the base of the fence in left field. "We had two outs, and I had to put it in play," Mulligan said. "I wanted to put it in the gap and hit it hard somewhere.
I was able to do that. We needed to get on the board early and give us some momentum." Berger drove in Mulligan with a double off the base of the fence in right field, giving Lafayette another run.
"Rile is an A-plus hitter and she's an A-plus fielder for us," Berger said. "She's incredibly reliable. She's one of the top shortstops in the country in my opinion.
She has a great mindset. She does an awesome job." Unearned run for Jackson The Indians got their lone run in the third inning.
Catcher Jaylie Walther led off with a doubled to right field. Walther advanced to third on a fly out to right field. She scored when Vogt at third base couldn't handle a slow roller for an error.
Insurance runs The Lancers added two runs in the fifth. Freshman Whitney Drapalik singled and Carr drew a walk. A wild pitch advanced the runners a base.
Mulligan hit a fly to left field. Jackson's Maddie Stelling threw a strike to Walther to cut down a sliding Drapalik. Berger came through when she drilled the first pitch up the middle for a run-scoring single.
Junior Addison Long followed with a single. Vogt singled to center, scoring Berger to give the Lancers a 4-1 lead. Missed opportunity Jackson put its first two hitters on base in the sixth when Conklin singled to left and Kimmora Carothers doubled.
Again, Carr kept the Indians from scoring. After a strikeout, Sydney Jones bounced a grounder to Carr. She threw to third, where Conklin was called out because Carothers slid into the base from second.
A groundout to Vogt ended the threat. Left on base The Lancers stranded eight baserunners in the win. Quarterfinal finish again The Indians lost 3-1 last season in the quarterfinals to Francis Howell, which went on to win the state championship.
Jackson went 33-5 last year and has won 61 games the past two seasons. "I feel sorry for our seniors," Wilding said. "We've had 61 wins and just 14 losses in two years.
We were back-to-back district champions. We've never done that before in our history. "It doesn't come easy.
The team that come here and beats us goes on to win state. Francis Howell did it last and I think Lafayette has a great chance to do it this year.".
