MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Mo. — The Bowling Green Lady ‘Cats were victorious over the Montgomery County Wildcats on Thursday night, winning 12-2 in five innings of play. Bowling Green will play in the district championship on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. a familiar spot for the Lady ‘Cats softball program.

Before the game, Bowling Green experienced adversity as starting shortstop Hailey Prater left pre-game warmups with an injury. Bowling Green is also missing starting center fielder Grace Deters who is expected to return on Friday. Underclassmen Brylie Sparks filled the hole in centerfield and Kaelynn Wommack took Prater’s spot at shortstop.

“I have told our girls we always have to be ready when an opportunity arises. We are top heavy with some juniors and seniors who have played in some big games, but tonight we had some younger girls step in to get some timely hits and make some big plays,” said EMO Conference coach of the year Craig Smith.

The Lady ‘Cats found themselves down 2-0 going into the home half of the first inning after a homerun from Montgomery’s pitcher Brooklyn Fischer. The ladies in red and black quickly regained their lead in the bottom half of the first inning with big hits from seniors Haylee Chandler and Grace Dameron producing three runs for the Lady ‘Cats.

Bowling Green clung tightly to their 3-2 lead for the next three innings, making some big plays defensively. Tanner Turner had seven strikeouts on the night, shutting down Montgomery’s bats after a tough first inning. Kennedy Grimsley made some big catches in the outfield, putting an end to run threats from the Wildcats.

In the fifth inning the Lady ‘Cats busted the game open scoring nine runs in the final inning of play. Wommack hit an inside the park grand slam extending Bowling Green’s lead late in the game. A line drive double from Grimsley tacked on another two runs for the ladies in red and black. With no outs and runners on first and third, senior Jade Meier hit a walk off three run homerun to end the game in run rule fashion.

“It’s all up to the girls to bring the energy and our bench is doing a really great job. We want the girls to pass down the excitement and tradition. This is going to be a great experience for our younger girls down the road,” added Coach Smith.

Bowling Green will face Winfield in the district championship game. Reminder you can always find a full recap of scores by visiting the Scoreboard page at kjfmradio.com.