Rachel Hanf gets the glad hand from teammates and assistant coach Sherry Ball after her grand slam that propelled the Paola High School girls to a 4-0 regional playoff victory against Louisburg on Monday. (Photo by Gene Morris)
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Grand slam puts Panthers in semifinals
Wood, Mader combine for two-hit shutout
By Gene Morris, gmorris@miconews.com
One swing of the bat was all it took to send the Paola High School softball team to the Class 4A regional semifinals.
Rachel Hanf clubbed the ball over the fence in center field for a grand slam, scoring the only runs of the afternoon as the Panthers shut out the Louisburg Wildcats 4-0 at Julie Silver Field in Paola on Monday.
“It was pretty big,” Hanf said of her second home run of the season. “I knew we were going to win it.”
Allison Wood and Kylee Mader combined for a two-hitter and the Panther defense made just one error behind them.
“We were all pretty pumped up going into it,” Hanf said. “We only gave up two hits. It was great for our confidence, knowing we can play defense like that.”
Paola (18-3) advanced to play Anderson County in the semifinals Tuesday. Results of the semifinals and finals were not available at press time.
Mader reached on an error to open the second inning.
Austin Boehm singled with one out.
Kayla Offutt followed with a single to load the bases.
Hanf drilled the ball over the fence in the deepest part of the ballpark in center field for the team’s 18th home run of the season, and it proved to be the game-winner in the team’s 18th victory.
It was quite a jolt from the bottom of the order. Mader bats fifth in the lineup. Boehm, Offutt and Hanf are seventh, eighth and ninth in the order.
“No. 18 on the year, that is kind of big, especially from someone hitting her second of the year,” Paola coach Troy Collier said. “She hit two off the fence this season.”
It was a team effort, Collier said, and the big blast came from the last hitter in the lineup.
“That was the bottom of our lineup, too,” he said. “The bottom of the lineup came through for us.”
Hanf’s blast was a no-doubter, Collier said.
“She cranked it,” he said. “When it was hit, I knew it was gone.”
Wood started the game and threw six innings, striking out one and walking none.
Through the first four innings, she faced the minimum, pitching to just 12 batters. Wood faced 19 batters on the night.
Louisburg brought the potential game-tying run to the plate, loading the bases against Mader with two outs. Mader induced a ground ball hit back to her and threw to first for the final out of the game.
Paola had four hits against Louisburg, but one went for the grand slam.
Boehm singled and scored. Offutt single and scored. Natalie Nelson singled.
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Rachel Hanf clubbed the ball over the fence in center field for a grand slam, scoring the only runs of the afternoon as the Panthers shut out the Louisburg Wildcats 4-0 at Julie Silver Field in Paola on Monday.
“It was pretty big,” Hanf said of her second home run of the season. “I knew we were going to win it.”
Allison Wood and Kylee Mader combined for a two-hitter and the Panther defense made just one error behind them.
“We were all pretty pumped up going into it,” Hanf said. “We only gave up two hits. It was great for our confidence, knowing we can play defense like that.”
Paola (18-3) advanced to play Anderson County in the semifinals Tuesday. Results of the semifinals and finals were not available at press time.
Mader reached on an error to open the second inning.
Austin Boehm singled with one out.
Kayla Offutt followed with a single to load the bases.
Hanf drilled the ball over the fence in the deepest part of the ballpark in center field for the team’s 18th home run of the season, and it proved to be the game-winner in the team’s 18th victory.
It was quite a jolt from the bottom of the order. Mader bats fifth in the lineup. Boehm, Offutt and Hanf are seventh, eighth and ninth in the order.
“No. 18 on the year, that is kind of big, especially from someone hitting her second of the year,” Paola coach Troy Collier said. “She hit two off the fence this season.”
It was a team effort, Collier said, and the big blast came from the last hitter in the lineup.
“That was the bottom of our lineup, too,” he said. “The bottom of the lineup came through for us.”
Hanf’s blast was a no-doubter, Collier said.
“She cranked it,” he said. “When it was hit, I knew it was gone.”
Wood started the game and threw six innings, striking out one and walking none.
Through the first four innings, she faced the minimum, pitching to just 12 batters. Wood faced 19 batters on the night.
Louisburg brought the potential game-tying run to the plate, loading the bases against Mader with two outs. Mader induced a ground ball hit back to her and threw to first for the final out of the game.
Paola had four hits against Louisburg, but one went for the grand slam.
Boehm singled and scored. Offutt single and scored. Natalie Nelson singled.