Lady Vandals Clinch District

The Lady Vandals were pushed to 10 innings on Tuesday night, but kept the season’s perfect record intact with a 6-5 win over the Lady Tigers. The win clinched a district championship for the Lady Vandals and moved the season record to 25-0.

Van scored single runs in each of the first two innings to hold a 2-0 lead early, but Wills Point came back in the bottom of the third. The Van defense turned a little sketchy in the inning, as the Lady Tigers used one hit and some aggressive base running to score four runs, and the Lady Vandals found themselves in a rare place - behind on the scoreboard.

It didn’t last long though, as the No. 1 ranked team in the state answered with two in the top of the fourth to tie the score, 4-4. Van took a one run lead in the sixth, but Wills Point answered to tie the score at 5-5.

The score remained that way until the 10th inning. Kim Mobly hit a one-out triple, followed by an infield hit by Jessica Marshburn. Mobly could not advance on that play, but did score on Chelsea Moore’s sacrifice bunt.

Van’s outfield made played well in the late innings, including a catch at the fence by left fielder Marshburn, and a diving grab by centerfielder Chelsey Moore in the bottom of the tenth. Other game details were not available at press time.

Prior to the trip to Wills Point, the Lady Vandals defeated Mineola by scoring seven runs in the first inning. Marshburn led of with a double, followed by a single by Chasity Smith, and three doubles in a row by Shelby Harris, Kayla Chitty and Brittany Wood.

Taylor Wilson had two hits in the game, while Chelsea Smith had a big RBI night, and Kennedy Burnett had three stolen bases and scored two runs. Shelby Harris got the win.

The Lady Vandals will make up for rained out games from earlier in the season by hosting a double header on Saturday, beginning with the Red Oak Hawks at noon, followed by the Quitman Lady Bulldogs at 2 p.m. The final regular season game will be on Tuesday when the girls will host Canton.