Holt Knocks Off Rival Timberland, Advances To District Championship Game

TIMBERLAND HIGH SCHOOL – When archrivals Holt and Timberland met in a critical GAC South softball matchup last week at , the host Indians played what might have been their worst game of the entire season in what became a 4-1 to the visiting Wolves.

Holt wasted numerous scoring chances on offense, and committed four errors on defense, which Timberland happily took advantage of to earn itself a win.

On Thursday though, playing the Missouri Class 4 District 3 semifinals at , Holt looked like themselves again, both at the plate and in the field, and claimed a convincing 5-0 win over the Wolves to advance to the district championship game Friday against Troy (MO).

“We just weren’t sharp the last time we played them,” Holt coach Joel Adam said. “They beat us at our place, and we didn’t play well. I think the girls knew we had to be more focused to win here today.”

And indeed the Indians were, especially at the plate where they had runners on base in every inning, and capitalized on those chances with single runs in the second, third, and sixth innings, to go along with two more runs they scored in the fifth.

“We preach to the girls, ‘you’ve got to get bunts down’,” Adam said. “We had a good squeeze bunt down early. We had a couple of good sacrifices. We work on that a lot. And we just played better today.”

Holt also had standout starting pitcher Amber Boehme going.

And boy, was she fantastic, tossing a complete-game shutout for the Indians, while allowing just four hits and striking out seven.

“Amber did a great job,” Adam said. “She got in a little trouble here or there, but for the most part, she just really held them.”

Timberland’s best scoring chance probably came in the fifth inning, when junior Mia Broemmer walked and senior Sarah Williams singled to put runners on first and second, with top hitter Savannah Price coming up, and only one out.

Price then whacked a pitch that seemed like a sure hit toward right field that could’ve potentially scored both Broemmer and pitch-runner Courtney Ferguson.

But Holt’s Alyssa Lilly made a fantastic running catch, then fired to first to double off Ferguson for the final out of the inning and preserve the Indian lead.

“It was just that kind of day for us,” Timberland coach Brad Schellert said. “We had a couple good chances to score. We just didn’t get the job done.”

Holt certainly did.

In the second inning, the Indians turned a hit, a sacrifice, and another hit into the first run of the game, then used two hits and another bunt in the third to push across another run.

But the big inning for the Indians was its own half of the fifth, when Courtney Kitson was hit by a pitch and Abi Corbett walked to put runners on first and second.

Both runners eventually scored, after a brilliant defensive play by Timberland prevented an extra-base hit by Lindsey Dawson, thanks to an RBI groundout by Lilly and a run-scoring single by Kaylee Brueggeman.

The victory, which was Boehme’s 20th of the season, raised Holt’s overall record to 21-4, which they’ll put on the line against 23-4 Troy in the district championhip game on Friday.

First pitch for that game is set for 4 p.m. at Timberland High, with the winner advancing to the state sectionals next Wednesday, against the winner of Friday’s District 7 championship between Francis Howell and Fort Zumwalt South.

Timberland finished the year with a record of 17-9.

Scoring Summary

Score by Innings

R

H

E

Timberland

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

4

0

Holt

0

1

1

0

2

1

x

5

10

0

WP: Amber Boehme (20-4)

LP:  Sarah Williams (11-9)