Junior Ailey Schyck drove in four runs on a pair of towering home runs and Kaley Wells had three RBI on a pair of doubles as West Orange defeated Osceola, 10-5, in an FHSAA Class 7A, Region 3 quarterfinal game last Thursday night at Coffey Field.
The Lady Kowboys, the last county team remaining in the post-season, finished its season at 16-10. West Orange, 16-12, moved on to face East Ridge in a regional semifinal game.
After getting out of a small jam in the first inning, Osceola starting pitcher Alyssa Miranda ran into trouble in the second inning. With one out, Hailey Seymour reached on an infield error and Tabatha Perry walked. Both players moved up on a wild pitch before Wells made it 2-0 with a double in the left-center gap.
Reygan Nickerson replaced Miranda to start the third inning but was greeted by Schyck’s long home run to left field. Katie Everson followed with a single, went to second on a wild pitch and would later score on Wells’ double. Wells would come around to score on a Hannah Yetter single to make it 5-0.
Osceola would cut the lead to 5-2 in the fourth on an RBI single by Gabriela Avila and a Nickerson run scoring double. But a Perry single followed by three consecutive walks issued by Nickerson gave the Warriors a 6-2 lead after five innings.
“It was a rough outing for Alyssa,” Osceola Head Coach Miranda Watford said. “She sprained her ankle earlier and it was bothering her from the outset of the game. She gave it her best effort but was obviously having some problems with it. We certainly did not help ourselves with some uncharacteristic mistakes on defense.”
West Orange would break the game wide open in the seventh. Zoe Calez tripled to open the inning off of Miranda, who re-entered the game in the fifth. Lexi Scalzo delivered an RBI single before Janata Sutton singled and Schyck then delivered her eighth home run of the season – this time deep over the centerfield fence to make it 10-2.
The Lady Kowboys put a three-spot up in the bottom of the inning on a run scoring single by Rylee Andrews, a sacrifice fly by Gabriela Avila and an RBI single by Maya Jusino but Jones was cut down at the plate trying to score from second on the play to end the game.
“Overall, I was really proud of this team,” Watford said. “They worked hard all season, won a district title and accomplished a lot. We lose four seniors from the starting lineup but have a lot of talented players coming back next season.”
